Darkness and Light in Central City
by chissprincess
Summary: Ed, Roy, and Isabelle are accussed of a crime they didn't commit, and the government is falling apart. What will happen to them? SEQUEL to my other story. EnvyxOC, RoyAi
1. Chapter 1

I'm back! Please forgive me for taking so long to start posting the sequel -- work and school are getting in the way of my creativity. It's going to be a couple of days before I can post a new chapter after this too, most likely, but there will be more, I swear!

For those of you just joining us, this is the sequel to my story "The Curious Affair in Central City" (there should be a link in my profile), which I won't force you to read but I do recommend that you read it first, otherwise you'll be running around wondering what in the world is going on. I could just tell you, but reading the story is more fun.

**This story is rated T.** There's violence, some swearing, and some implied sex (but no descriptions!). So, if you're not into stuff like that, even a tiny bit...well, don't say I didn't warn you. And as usual, I own nothing except Isabelle. Please don't steal her -- I might be willing to let you borrow her if you ask nicely, though. Ok, enough author chatter out of me, onto the story!

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**Prologue**

Greed wiped his blood-covered hands on his pants and turned to grin at his companions. The taller of the two sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, shaking her dark hair out of her eyes. The shorter and younger one ust grinned, a feral look that would normally have been out-of-place on someone so young-looking. But Wrath was no ordinary youngster, anymore than Greed was an ordinary man or Lust was an ordinary woman. The three were Homunculi, and they were the most vicious of the remaining Homunculi.

"Too bad Gluttony's not here to clean up the mess," Wrath said.

"Indeed," Greed replied. "What's the point of killing the worthless humans if we have to leave evidence behind?"

Lust snorted. "It's all the fault of those brats…Envy and that human girl he fell in love with. She killed Gluttony, you know."

"I know," Greed said, pulling off his glasses and cleaning them on his shirt. Slipping them back on, he stared down at the mangled body that was his handiwork for the night. "Too bad we can't do something about her."

"Well, why can't we?" Wrath asked. "Just because she got Gluttony, that doesn't mean anything."

"This is correct," a deep voice said from the shadows. "But she's a State Alchemist now. I named her myself, after all. Even if she lacks power on her own, she is surrounded by some of the most powerful people in the country, and they consider her a friend." Pride stepped from the ally where he had been hiding and let his gaze roam over his fellow Homunculi. "They won't let her be harmed so easily."

The others stood silent for several long moments, pondering this. Pride was right, whether they liked to admit it or not. But they still wanted revenge. And besides, they could never pass up the opportunity to hurt their enemies. The State alchemists would never be anything but enemies to the Homunculi.

Suddenly, Greed lifted his head and raised a finger. "So maybe we can't get her alone, but what if there was a way to get her _and_ hurt the government? Maybe even completely destroy it?"

"Are we capable of such a thing?" Lust asked incredulously. "Taking down the government would be difficult."

"Not really," Greed said. "After all, Envy almost managed it once."

"What? How?" Wrath asked, frowning.

Pride chuckled. "Ah yes, I remember that. It was Envy who caused the start of the first Ishbalan War. Too bad that didn't go quite the way we planned it."

Greed nodded and smirked. "We could do it again." The others just stared at him in surprise. Finally, Wrath said, "But we don't have Envy anymore."

"We don't need Envy," Greed said. "We just need a good plan…a plan that will take the most powerful of the State alchemists out of commission…a plan that will cause so many problems for the government that they will be forced to stop functioning."

"And you have such a plan?" Lust asked, raising a perfect eyebrow at the man before her.

Greed laughed. "As a matter of fact, I do…I do indeed."


	2. Chapter 2

An update (no, really? said the audience in shock)! Anyway, hope you like it...and please review!

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**Chapter 1**

Kain Fuery was not having a good day.

First, his alarm clock had broken, meaning that he had woken up late. That meant he had to take a cold shower, because all of the hot water had already been used by his dorm mates. He made his way to work without incident, only to find that the normally well-behaved Black Hayate had very nearly destroyed the office while chasing Alphonse Elric's newest rescued cat around the office. Somehow, all of the desks had made it out unscathed…except for Fuery's, which had been badly scratched and chewed and which now bore the remains of his shattered desk lamp. The cat was sitting atop then nearest bookshelf, all puffed up and hissing at the dog, who was barking at it nonstop while Havoc tried to find Riza so she could get her own dog under control. Envy, Ed, and Isabelle were busy trying to pick up all of the paperwork that had gotten scattered during the animal fight, Envy muttering about the wicked-looking scratch on his arm and throwing evil glares at the cat. Breda was nowhere to be seen. Al was standing on top of a chair, trying to coax the cat from its bookshelf perch so he could take it elsewhere.

Fuery sighed and shook his head in despair, then set about cleaning his desk. He hadn't gotten very far when the phone on Breda's desk suddenly rang, and Havoc shouted at him to pick it up. And so, he answered the phone.

"Colonel Mustang's office."

"Fuery?" Mustang's voice came from the speaker. "Is that you?"

"Yes, sir! What can I do for you?"

"You can start by explaining all the noise," Mustang replied sourly.

Fuery winced. "Well, sir…ah…there's a little problem with animals in the office this morning…"

Silence. Then, "On second thought, I don't want to know. Just get the office cleaned up, I'll be arriving with General Hakuro in five minutes for a private meeting."

"Yes, sir! I'll see to it right away!" Fuery exclaimed, hanging up as quickly as he could. He turned to the others, then, trying to figure out how to get their attention.

"Was that Mustang?" Isabelle asked, setting a messy stack of papers on her desk before beginning to sort them.

"Yeah," Fuery replied. "We have to get this place cleaned up now, and get those animals out of here. The Colonel's going to be arriving with General Hakuro in just five minutes."

"Five minutes??" Envy wailed from the other side of his wife's desk. "There's no way we can manage to have this place neat by then! And my poor arm…"

"Not like we have a choice," Isabelle replied. "Ed! Do something about Fuery's desk. Al, just grab the cat and take it outside, we don't have time for you to be coaxing it down. Havoc, Fuery, get Black Hayate out of here too. Just stick him in Hughes' office for now, he'll be fine in there. Envy, help me get these papers shoved away. We can sort them later."

Havoc and Fuery managed to manhandle the dog out and down the hall. Ed set to work using alchemy to repair Fuery's lamp and desk, while Envy started collecting piles of paper and shoving them into random desk drawers. Al had to pull himself halfway into the bookshelf before he could reach the cat, which yowled and hissed and tried to claw the youngest Elric's arm. Breda came rushing in, glaring over his shoulder and mumbling about dogs -- apparently he had been hiding in Hughes's empty office. Riza and Falman arrived in a flurry of activity moments later, just as Envy was hiding the last of the papers and Al was leaving with the yowling, struggling cat held at arm's length. Finally, the office looked presentable and the various members of the office had assembled and taken their assigned spots. Now it was time to look busy -- best to make a good impression on the General when he arrived with the Colonel.

And it was all just in time, too, for moments after they had settled down, they heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Riza and Envy took up positions on either side of the office's double doors, each resting a hand on one doorknob. Envy held up a hand and silently counted down. As he reached zero, he and Riza twisted their respective knobs and pulled the doors open, revealing Roy Mustang and General Hakuro. The two men stepped into the room and stopped, Hakuro clasping his hands behind his back and surveying the men and woman before him as they stood and saluted.

"You have a fine group of subordinates here, Mustang. Fullmetal and Shadow, I'm impressed."

"Don't forget the other two, sir," Roy added, pointing first to Envy and then to Al. "It would be foolish to not to take the Shapeshifter Alchemist and the Light Alchemist seriously. And the rest of my group is top-notch too."

"Indeed," Hakuro murmured, turning his attention to Envy with great curiosity in his eyes. "Is it true what they say about you, Mr. Elric? That you used to be a Homunculus?"

Envy's eye twitched. "It may be true, General," Ed spoke up from farther back in the room, "but it doesn't have any influence on his service now."

"No, of course not," Hakuro replied cheerfully. "But anyway, I have a private meeting with the Colonel. This shouldn't take long." With that, Roy stepped forward and motioned for the other man to follow him, making his way through the room to the other set of doors, one of which he held open for the General before stepping through himself and closing it behind him. Envy glared at the closed door, muttering curses at the now-hidden General Hakuro.

"I wonder what's going on," Havoc whispered over Envy's muttering.

"I've heard rumors of a promotion in the works for Mustang for ages," Ed whispered back.

"Roy's getting promoted?" Al whispered curiously.

"Looks like it," Isabelle replied, pulling a stack of papers from her drawer. "Let's get started on these," she said, nudging her husband and handing the stack to him before opening her other drawer and getting her own stack. "We'll need these sorted before we leave for the night."

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The meeting took longer than any of the others had expected -- almost three hours. In that time, Isabelle and Envy managed to sort all of the papers and hand out the day's assignments to their officemates, Riza had time to run Black Hayate home and shut him in her apartment (punishment for his earlier bad behavior), and Hughes arrived with a fresh batch of pictures of his daughter. But upon hearing that Roy was sequestered in his office with General Hakuro, all thoughts of his pictures were forgotten in favor of settling himself into the nearest empty chair and worrying.

"I don't know what you're so worried about," Ed said. "It's not like Roy's done anything bad lately, right?"

Hughes tapped his chin. "I wouldn't know. But the way I see it, there are only two reasons for any of the Generals to be here, and I doubt they're all that eager to promote Roy."

"Why not?" Envy asked, pushing a lock of green hair out of his face and blinking his violet eyes at Hughes.

"Because they know how powerful Roy is, and they know how dangerous it could be to their own necks to have a man like that as their equal rather than their subordinate."

"And yet," Isabelle murmured, "they can't leave him as a Colonel forever."

Hughes and the others nodded, then turned their attention to the door separating them from their commanding officer and his guest. But nothing happened, so they quietly turned back to what they had been doing before.

Finally, just after lunch time, the doors opened once more and the two men stepped out. Roy saluted Hakuro, then shook his hand. He and the others stood at attention as the General left. Then, without saying a word to the others, Roy turned and marched back into his office, where he sat in pensive silence for the rest of the day.

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It was another two days before anyone in the office knew anything about what had happened. Roy showed up unexpectedly at Riza's apartment on Wednesday night and asked her to join him for dinner. Riza quickly changed into something more appropriate for dinner out, grabbed her small purse (one of the few very girly things she owned), and followed her boyfriend to the waiting car. Since they were off-duty, Roy took the role of driver, and drove them to one of the nicer restaurants in Central. They were shown to a private booth in the back of the restaurant, where they perused the menus and ordered dinner and drinks before Riza was finally given any idea of what Roy was up to.

"Remember Hakuro's visit the other day?" Roy asked casually.

"How could I forget?" Riza answered. "Everyone's been wondering what that was all about, and Envy has been in a bad mood every since."

Roy looked surprised. "He has? Why?"

"Because of Hakuro's question. You know, asking if he was the former Homunculus. Envy's kind of sensitive about that."

"Well, he's going to have to get over it," Roy said grimly. "Hakuro is probably going to be hanging around the office more. That, or we'll all be transferred closer to him. I made sure he understood that I refuse to be transferred without the rest of my people."

"Wait, transferred? What's going on?" Riza asked, frowning at the man across from her.

Roy leaned forward and fixed her with a piercing gaze. "Hakuro wasn't here for any sort of standard inspection. He came to tell me that I'll be getting a promotion to General within the month…and that I'll be placed on the short list of candidates to take over the position of Fuhrer. Hakuro said they might move us back out to East City, just so all the candidates aren't in the same place."

Riza just stared at him, mouth open in shock and mind racing. Finally, she said, "Why would they move you out?"

"All the murders that have been happening," Roy replied, taking a sip of water and studying the glass intently. "They don't plan to make my promotion public right away, but you know how word of these things gets out. They're afraid I'll become a target."

"You're already a target," the blonde woman pointed out. "Just being the Flame Alchemist makes you a target."

"Well, it would make me more of a target then," Roy replied. "And it might increase the risk to the rest of you as well. Riza, I'm telling you this now because I want you to be on the lookout. I have a feeling that things are about to heat up in Central, maybe even in all of Amestris, and I don't want us caught off-guard."

Riza nodded. "You're going to tell the others too, right? They really should know."

"Of course. But…well…you're special to me. I wanted you to know first."

Riza blushed a bit, her cheeks taking on a pale pink tinge as the server arrived with their food. "Thank you. And Roy, you should know you have nothing to worry about -- I have your back."


	3. Chapter 3

In this chapter...a bunch of stuff happens...and it's cool. Or at least, I think it's cool. But I'm biased. So read, enjoy, and don't forget to review! Remember, a lack of reviews makes chibi Envy cry.

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**Chapter 2**

Roy's announcement of his impending promotion set the entire office into a state of heightened awareness and put everyone on edge. Later that month, they all accompanied Roy to his official, private promotion ceremony, where he announced that he would be focusing his energy and his newly accessible resources as General on finding the old Fuhrer, King Bradley. He didn't give any particular reason for this in his speech, and Hughes showed up at the office a week later with the news that everyone was convinced that Roy wanted to bring the old Fuhrer back and reinstate him. But the others knew the truth -- King Bradley was actually the Homunculus Pride. Roy's interest in finding him was tied to his general interest in finding the other Homunculi and making sure they wouldn't hurt anyone again.

And that was a huge concern, especially now. For the past year and a half, ever since the Homunculi had been in hiding, Central had seen a rash of incredibly violent murders. Like everyone else, Roy had at first assumed that the murders were freak coincidences. But as they grew in number, violence, and frequency, he became convinced that there was something else going on. Envy had finally told him that the murders bore all the marks of standard Homunculi killings. Roy pointed out that there had never been murders like this when the Homunculi were more active and had no reason to hide. Envy countered that yes there had, including several even more violent than the recent ones, but that no evidence had ever been found because before they had had Gluttony to clean up the mess.

The day of Roy's public promotion finally came, along with newspaper coverage in the form of a front-page article and photo and an inside spread detailing Roy's military career. There were even little blurbs on all of his subordinates, including one on Envy that used his legal name of William Elric and fortunately made no mention of his past as a Homunculus. The group returned to their office immediately following the ceremony, and Roy called them all into his private office for a meeting.

"As you know," he began, pacing around in front of them, hands clasped behind his back, "I have made the search for King Bradley one of my top priorities as a General. And as you know, this is not from any desire I have to see the man back in power, but rather from a desire to see him and the other Homunculi brought to justice. I'll need everyone's help to accomplish the mission, but since it is so dangerous I can't force any of you to take part. Therefore, I'm asking for volunteers. Who wants to help me?"

The others exchanged quick glances, each looking a bit nervous. Finally, Envy and Isabelle nodded to each other and stood, eyes hard as they stared at Roy. "I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into, going up against the Homunculi," Envy said, crossing his arms over his chest. "We're in."

"You haven't had much experience fighting them, either," Ed said. Jerking his thumb at Al, he added, "We have. No way you're doing this without us."

"Really, Mustang, you think we'd let you go off on some adventure and leave the four of us behind?" Havoc added, while Falman, Breda, and Fuery nodded in agreement.

Hughes coughed. "I promised I'd stay behind you all the way to the top, didn't I?"

"And I'm not that easy to get rid of you know," Riza finished, raising an eyebrow at Roy.

He let his dark eyes wander over the group before him, over their determined faces that revealed their ready-for-anything attitudes mingled with concern for the man they saw not only as their superior, but as their friend. Roy allowed himself a small smile, then gave a firm nod. "Right then. Time to form a plan of action. Edward, Envy, Isabelle, Hughes, you four stay here. The rest of you, get the information we currently have on file about the Homunculi and those murders. Sheska should know where it is. Get to it!"

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"I don't like it one bit."

Isabelle raised her head from where she had been focused on fluffing her pillow and stared at her husband. "You don't like what?"

"Any of this," Envy replied sourly. "Roy doesn't want to listen to me. I keep telling him, Greed and the others are behind this, and they have a plan. They must! Roy seems to think that they're so much weaker now that they've lost me and Gluttony, but really…Pride and Greed and Lust are brilliant, Wrath is too strong for his own good, and Sloth's ability to become water will be a great asset. Hell, she could be in here right now, listening to every word we're saying, and we would never suspect. I know that and you know that and o-chibi-san knows that, but Roy won't listen."

"I'm sure he's listening," Isabelle said as soothingly as she could, "but he has a lot on his mind right now. You can't expect perfection."

Envy fell onto the bed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Maybe not," he murmured, "but I can certainly expect Mustang to listen to me better than that. What's the point of involving me in little secret meetings like that if he's not going to use my knowledge?"

Isabelle sighed and crawled into bed, pulling the thick blankets up over herself before snuggling against Envy until he moved his arms and let her rest her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and stroked her back, tilting his head down to kiss the top of her head. "Listen," she said softly, "give him some time. He probably picked up more than you think he did today. We can't solve all of the world's problems at once, you know -- we're only human."

Envy gave a wry smile, though Isabelle didn't see it. "That we are, love, that we are."

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"Well, what do you think?" Greed asked, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the wall. "Personally, I like the idea of targeting the police myself. Destroying one of the pillars of law and order in the nation will go a long way towards forwarding our goals of ultimate chaos."

"I think we need to involve the police, but as allies," Pride said.

"Huh?"

"It's quite simple, really. We chose another target, attack, then set one of us up as a witness. We would then reveal our information to the police, and they would help us take down our real targets."

Sloth nodded. "It hides our tracks better to do it that way," she said.

"Fine, so who are we attacking?" Greed said a little sourly. He didn't like it when Pride messed with his plans.

"I vote for the school," Wrath said, a feral light gleaming in his eyes. "People go crazy when kids get hurt."

"But why involve children?" Lust asked. "The focus will be all on them and how tragic their deaths were. We need something a little less likely to get people feeling sad and sympathetic, something that will light this city on fire…"

"Ishbalans," Pride said.

The others turned to him in surprise. "Ishbalans?" Sloth repeated.

Pride nodded. "Think about it -- there has already been one war between the Ishbalans and the rest of the state, correct? Any action against Ishbalans is very likely to incite further chaos, maybe even a second war."

Greed rubbed his chin and smiled. "I like it. So, we attack a bunch of Ishbalans and pin it on some government lackeys?"

"Why waste the effort on mere lackeys?" Lust asked.

"Why not go after Envy?" Wrath added.

"Or Mustang," Sloth said. "They just promoted him to General, after all."

"I say we go after Fullmetal," Lust interjected.

Pride chuckled quietly. "Or, we could go after all three…but we shouldn't go against Envy directly. They'll become suspicious if we do that."

Silence. "What are you suggesting, then?" Lust asked, tapping her fingers against the tabletop.

"I suggest this: We will attack and kill a large group of Ishbalans, then have Wrath perform some alchemy so we can pin the attacks on State alchemists. In fact, I say we have Wrath pretend to be a witness to the crime. Who would fail to listen to the words of an innocent child, scared by the horrors of death? And then, while Wrath is being questioned, he fingers three State alchemists…Flame, Fullmetal, and Shadow. You wanted to go after her anyway, didn't you?"

The others laughed. "Roy Mustang, Ed Elric, and Envy's beloved Isabelle," Greed said cheerfully, eyes unfocused as he gazed dreamily into space. "I love this plan!"

"Then let's get to work," Pride said, also smiling. "There's a lot to decide on before we can carry this out. We have no time to lose."


	4. Chapter 4

In this chapter we have glaring Roy, evil Homunculi, and doom. Yes, doom!

Anyway, at the moment chibi-Envy is very happy because someone reviewed the last two chapters (yay!). But chibi-Envy is a very moody little chibi, and he needs a steady diet of reviews to keep him happy. Otherwise...who know what will happen. So please review!

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**Chapter 3**

Roy glared at the paper in his hands and tossed it aside before raking his hands through his hair in frustration. "Don't we have anything better than this?" he growled.

"Sorry, Roy," Hughes said from where he sat stiffly on the black leather couch to Roy's left, "but the Homunculi been laying pretty low lately. Even I can't get information on people like them when they decide to go to ground like this."

Envy snorted. "They're planning something. I can feel it."

"Yeah, but what?" Ed asked. "And why hide before hand?"

"I notice there haven't been any murders lately," Isabelle added darkly. "Maybe they're planning some sort of massive attack."

"That would be just like Greed and Pride," Envy agreed.

Fuery cleared his throat. "You don't have any idea who they might be looking to target, do you?"

"Well, if we assume that they're setting up for another murder, it's going to be something big, something to make us stand up and take notice, something that no one would expect them to do…"

"That's it!" Riza exclaimed, jumping up so quickly that Black Hayate let out a startled yelp. "They're going to attack someone in the government."

"Maybe even Roy," Ed said, nodding and frowning. "He's all over the news now. Can you imagine the reaction if they managed a successful attack against him?"

"I think it would be bigger than that," Envy said quietly. "The government is about to release its short list of candidates for the Fuhrer's office, right? I bet they're going to wait until after that's published, then try to attack all of the people on the list. How many candidates are there?"

"Three," Roy said.

"And there are five Homunculi still out there. That would be more than enough to take care of everyone on the list, especially if the group went after them one at a time. They could even pull off a simultaneous attack on all three, though."

Isabelle studied her husband in alarm. "You talk as though you were once included in plans for this."

"I was," Envy said grimly. "Not something exactly like this, but it was close."

Al raised a hand tentatively and waited until the others had turned their attention to him. "Then maybe they won't try to do that. I mean, they know you're here, and they must know that your memory is good enough to remember things like this, and they have to know figure you'd tell us about those plans…"

"Yeah, but that's precisely why they might do it anyway," Envy pointed out sourly. "They'll assume that we will assume that they couldn't be so stupid as to do something I've already told you about --"

"Oh this is ridiculous!" Roy exclaimed, putting an end to the discussion when he slammed his hand into the desk. "Listen to yourselves! You sound like a bunch of conspiracy theorists. It's pathetic. We can't rule anything out, but we need more evidence. Hughes, get on it. Fuery, Havoc, Isabelle, you're going to help him. Oh, and you too Envy. And I don't want a single conspiracy theory to come out of that work, do you understand?"

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The night was cold, dark, and wet, even compared to what was typical for Central City in late February. Wrath didn't really feel the cold though. With a final flash of blue-white light, the small Homunculus finished his final task and turned to grin at his companions.

Lust was studying her fingers intently for any stray drops of flesh and blood, while Greed and Pride wiped their own blood-soaked hands and weapons a clean piece of cloth that had once served as a cloak for one of their victims. Sloth was making her way back towards them. "I called the local police," she said. "They'll be here soon. It would be a good idea for us to leave before they arrive."

"Right," Pride said. He grabbed a handful of blood-soaked mud and proceeded to smear it over every inch of Wrath's clothes, hair (died red for the night), and exposed skin, then Sloth carefully wrapped him in a torn and muddied cloak. "Now remember," Pride said, "you were just passing by when they attacked these poor Ishbalans, and you were lucky enough to escape with your life. And remember, no names, just descriptions. Got that?"

"Yep!" Wrath replied cheerfully, allowing himself one last grin as he surveyed the carnage around him. Then, quickly, he schooled his features into a look of combined innocence and terror. The other four Homunculi vanished into the shadows, and not a moment too soon, for just as they left the sound of sirens and the flashing of blue and red lights on the walls down the street heralded the arrival of the police. Wrath collapsed onto the ground and huddled there, sobbing, until he heard the sound of running feet on the grimy pavement. He looked up, widening his eyes in mock fear, and let out a strangled cry as he struggled to his feet and turned as though to make a run for it.

"Kid, stop! We're the police, we won't hurt you!"

"The…the police?" Wrath replied, voice shaking. "You better get out of here! They might be back, and there's no way you can protect me from them if they come back."

The man who had spoken ordered a few of his companions to search the area, then he turned and took a careful step toward Wrath. "C'mon, son, we're not going to hurt you. We'll take you back to the station, get you some clean clothes and something warm to drink, and you can tell us what happened. How does that sound?"

Wrath stood there for a moment as though pondering, then gave a reluctant nod and started picking his way out of the groups of mangles bodies and towards the police officer. He was just a few steps away when a subordinate approached the other man and started speaking softly to him. Wrath listened intently.

"Sir, we found the closest phone booth, and there was a body there as well. Looks like some poor woman tried to call for help and they killed her. And…it looks like they used alchemy."

"Alchemy, huh? How many alchemists are there in Central?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Well, get on finding out. I'm taking the kid back to the station, we'll see what he says."

Less than forty-five minutes later, Wrath found himself huddled in an oversized armchair in the police chief's office, having taken a quick bath and currently wrapped in a thick blanket, a warm mug of hot chocolate cupped in his hands. The police chief leaned forward over his desk and smiled kindly at Wrath. "Now, lad, I know this must be difficult for you," he said, each word making his thick grey mustache quiver, "but you have to tell us what happened. It'll help us catch the people who did this and bring them to justice."

"I don't think you can, sir," Wrath said in a choked whisper. "They were really strong, and they used alchemy."

"Alchemy?" the man asked in surprise. "How do you know it was alchemy?"

"Because I could see the light," Wrath replied. "They were using it on people, and making weapons to attack people with…"

"Were you one of their targets?"

"Oh…no, not at first. I was just on my way home from…from visiting the park, and I saw them attacking the people. I guess I froze or something, because they saw me and attacked me too."

The police chief nodded and scribbled this all down, then looked up at Wrath again. "And who were they? Did you see?"

"Well, I didn't see too clearly," Wrath said hesitantly. "It was getting dark…but I could see a little. There were three of them. Two were pretty short, and the other was taller. The short ones had brown hair and blonde hair, kind of long, and the tall one had short black or brown hair, I couldn't really tell. They were all kind of pale, too."

The man nodded. "What were they wearing?"

"Umm…I don't know really, but it looked like they were all wearing pretty much the same thing. Like it was a uniform or something."

"I see. Listen, young man, you've been very helpful. Do you have a place to go tonight? We'll take you home."

Wrath gave the man the address of the place where Sloth was scheduled to meet him, then finished his hot chocolate before following the police chief from his office and to his car so the man could bring Wrath home. Sloth, hair died a blazing red to match Wrath's, met them at the door, acting very distraught over the whereabouts of her "son" and very shocked when the police chief told her he had almost been a victim in a grisly murder. But he reassured Sloth that her "son" was unharmed, though he did give her a list of therapists she might want to keep in mind for him if it looked like he needed help. Then, with a nod to her and a tip of his hat to Wrath, he was gone.

Just after midnight, three warrants were issued for the arrests of Roy Mustang, Edward Elric, and Isabelle Chamberlain Elric for the murders of fifteen Ishbalans.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4**

Hughes grumbled and glared at anything that happened to enter his line of sight, cursing the telephone, its inventor, the phone companies, and whoever it was who thought that calling him at this inhumane time of the morning was a good idea.

"Just ignore it," Gracia said groggily from beside him. "Or pick it up and hang it right back up without saying anything."

"No," Hughes said, giving a resigned sigh as he fumbled around, looking for the light switch for his bedside lamp. Finally finding it and switching the lamp on, he added, "If someone's calling me at two-fifteen in the morning, it must be important." He grabbed his glasses and quickly slipped them on, then answered the phone. "Hughes."

"Hughes, it's Fuery. You're not going to believe what just came through the wires."

"Fuery?" Hughes said, frowning at the phone. "What are you doing up so late?"

"Working on getting leads about the Homunculi, but never mind that," the younger man replied. "Listen -- you know I have a top-secret link to all police reports and police orders right? Well, the line's been really active tonight. There was an order for the emergency dispatch of an entire squad to part of the Old City, then an order for a clean-up crew, then something about a bunch of Ishbalans being killed, and now three arrest orders in connection with the murders. And you're not going to believe who they're pinning it on: Roy, Ed, and Isabelle!"

"What? Fuery, you can't be serious!"

"I am. Apparently they don't actually have the arrest warrants in hand yet, and without those they can't do anything. But the chief himself woke the judge up around midnight to get him to issue the warrants, so we don't have much time to warm these three."

Hughes just sat there for a minute, trying to think through all the emotions and stray thoughts running through his head. Finally, he said. "Alright, here's what we need to do. Are you at the office?"

"Yes."

"Good. Get on the secured line and start calling the others in, but do not call Roy, Ed, or Isabelle. I'll be right there."

"Right…what are we going to do?"

"You'll see. I don't know if this line is safe so I can't tell you." Hughes didn't even bother to see if Fuery had any questions -- he just hung up and scrambled out of bed, grabbing the first pieces of clothing his hands landed on and pulling them on.

"What's happening?" Gracia asked, watching him from her vantage point on the bed, an alarmed look in her eyes.

"The police are going to arrest Roy, Ed, and Isabelle for the murder of fifteen Ishbalans."

"What…how…can they even do that? Arrest military people, I mean?"

Hughes nodded. "They're citizens of Amestris too, and the police have the power to arrest any citizen as long as they have a warrant." A grim smile appeared on his lips. "Must be why the old Fuhrer kept wanting to change that law -- he didn't want the possibility of being discovered and arrested for it. Now, I have to go. Don't wait up, I have no idea when I'll be back."

Hughes left his house to discover that the night was colder than anything he was used to. It had gotten so cold that the rain was starting to freeze part-way down, making that lovely phenomenon called freezing rain that coated the ground with a layer of ice. Nevertheless, Hughes decided that he might need the car, so he climbed in and made his careful way down Central's roads to the military headquarters which, by the time he arrived, where a flurry of action.

Riza was taking her job as Roy's semi-official second-in-command very seriously, barking out orders to Havoc, Fuery, Falman, Breda, and even Sheska. The others were executing her orders swiftly and efficiently. Fuery had set Havoc and Falman up with connections to the police feeds, and the three were currently doing their best to get as many details of tonight's mass murder as possible. Breda was busy reviewing stacks of information on the military safe houses scattered throughout the city, marking each one on a map with a set of color-coded pins identifying its level of use, location in areas of high or low population, and proximity to Headquarters and the houses of the three who would be hiding there. Sheska was busily researching all of their options for getting the three cleared as soon as possible.

"Hughes, you're here," Riza said as the cold, wet, and shivering man walked in. "What do you propose?"

"Time is of the essence," Hughes replied. "Were the safe houses your idea?" Riza nodded. "It's a good one. I say we go get them and stick them in House Seven, just for tonight. It's in a quiet area not too far from here. We need more information on what happened, but I don't want to be trying to collect it with those three already in custody."

"Won't putting them in a safe house make it look like they're running? And won't that make them look guilty?" Havoc asked.

"It might," Hughes admitted, "but if the reports Fuery told me about are right, Ishbalans were murdered. That's going to make Roy, Ed, and Isabelle look guilty no matter what, given the military's history with Ishbalans. Fuery, how much longer do we have before this reaches the public?"

"Just over three hours," Fuery replied. "The first newspapers are delivered at six every morning, and this is sure to be all over the front page."

"Right." Hughes sighed and pulled a set of keys from his coat pocket, selecting a key that had been painted a bright yellow and making his way into Roy's office. There, he opened the bottom drawer on Roy's desk and pulled out a medium-sized, black metal box. A second key (this one painted green) opened the box, to reveal four solid layers of marked keys. Hughes selected three keys from the box's top layer, closed the box, and locked it up in Roy's drawer once again. He stood and tossed one key to Riza, a second to Falman, and kept the third for himself. "Riza, take Breda and get Roy. Falman, you and Fuery go for Isabelle. I'm taking Havoc and going for Ed. We'll meet up again at Safe House Seven as soon as possible. Sheska, I need you to keep track of the police reports and call the car phones if there's any update or any sign of movement. Let's go!"

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Isabelle grinned and tangled her hands in Envy's wild hair as her husband licked and nibbled his way from the hollow of her throat all the way down her torso. Envy was very naughty, very naughty indeed. Not that Isabelle herself was some innocent little creature these days, but still -- nothing like a former Sin for being naughty. It had to be Lust's bad influence.

Envy's face appeared above her once more, smiling down warmly before he gave her a tender kiss. Isabelle returned the kiss, disentangling her hands and wrapping them around his bare shoulders. Things were just about to get interesting --

-- until the sharp pounding on the house's front door interrupted them.

Envy raised his head and growled, twisting around to glare in the general direction of said door. "Who could it possibly be at this time of night?"

"Must be important," Isabelle replied, dark eyes widening as she raised her head to look around Envy's arm.

He grumbled, rolling out of bed and grabbing his thick black bathrobe, tying it messily around his waist. "I'll make them go away," he said, disappearing from the room before Isabelle could answer. He made his way down the stairs, still grumbling, then stalked to the front door and yanked it open. His murderous glare vanished when he saw the two men shivering miserably on his doorstep. "Falman, Fuery, what are you doing here? Never mind that, get inside before you get sick and die or something." The two quickly stepped inside and Envy closed and locked the door behind them. "Now, what are you doing here, it's just past three in the morning!"

"You mean you haven't heard?" Fuery exclaimed. "Then why are you awake?" Envy's cheeks turned a brilliant red and Falman coughed loudly, elbowing Fuery in the arm and shaking his head.

"We were…er…having some fun," Envy said wryly.

"What's going on?" Isabelle's voice came from the top of the stairs.

"Isabelle!" Fuery exclaimed, look up at her and running to stand at the bottom of the stairs. "You have to come with us right away, or you'll be arrested!"

"Whoa, whoa, wait just a minute," Envy growled. "What do you mean, she'll be arrested? She hasn't done anything."

"We know that," Falman said, "but earlier tonight fifteen Ishbalans were murdered, and the police are pinning it in Roy, Ed, and Isabelle. We don't know why, but we need to get those three someplace safe so we can keep them out of police hands."

Isabelle and Envy exchanged nervous looks, then Isabelle turned and raced back to her bedroom to change into regular clothes. "Sounds like something my lovely former friends would do," Envy said darkly.

"We don't know anything yet, just that as of two forty-five, the police where still waiting for the arrest warrants to be handed over to them," Falman said.

Envy glanced at the clock hanging on the nearby wall. "It's already been almost half an hour," he said. "The police should have gotten the warrants by now, and they'll be here any minute…"

"We have to stall them," Fuery said.

"Yeah, but how?" Falman asked.

"You don't have a military car anywhere near here, do you?" Envy asked.

Falman shook his head. "No, we left the car in an ally down the street."

Envy grinned. "Then I know just what to do. You two get Isabelle out through the back door. I'll stall those police for hours if I have to."

Isabelle had just made her re-appearance and was running down the stairs when, once again, someone pounded on their front door. "This is the police, open up! We have a warrant for the arrest of Isabelle Chamberlain Elric!"

With a flash of light, Envy had changed from his normal, small-framed, green-haired, bathrobe-clothed self into a tall, muscular dominatrix, complete with a risqué leather body suit, a black mask, and a whip clutched in a leather-gloved hand. He gave Isabelle a feral smile. "Don't worry, I'll keep them busy," a sultry and very un-Envy-like voice declared.

"Right," Isabelle replied. Grabbing Fuery's wrist, she said, "This way," and dragged him along to the back of the house, Falman at their heals. Envy waited until they were out of sight, counted slowly to ten, then opened the door with a flourish and leaned against the jamb, tapping the whip's handle against his left palm.

"Good evening, gentlemen…my, my, already all dressed up and ready to go, are we? And trying to be all intimidating, too." The police spluttered and shouted, obviously very flustered, while Envy gave the most convincing performance he could muster. Apparently it was very convincing, for he managed to stall the police for a full twenty minutes. By that time, Isabelle, Fuery, and Falman had made it to their car and partway across the city to Safe House Seven, where the others were beginning to gather.

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Aww, no more reviews? Where is everyone? Ah well, I know there a readers anyway, and since I like to keep my readers happy, I posted this chapter anyway. I should have a fresh one for you tomorrow, but if you want it sooner a review or two might convince me to post it faster... 


	6. Chapter 6

Well, I promised another chapter would go up today if someone reviewed, and since someone did indeed review (thank you!), here's the next chapter as promised. Enjoy, and don't forget to review! Reviews make the authoress very very happy.

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**Chapter 5**

"You do realize how guilty this makes us all look, right?" Ed asked from where he was leaning against the wall in the back of the safe house's small sitting room area. "Running away and hiding, I mean?"

It was late in the afternoon of the day after the murders. Things had been crazy at the office all day, with the police demanding to know where their three alleged murderers were and with the members of Roy's office claiming not to know. Now, they had all gathered in the safe house to decide on the best course of action. Too bad that wasn't going so smoothly.

"And you do realize just how dangerous this situation is, right?" Hughes countered. "The best thing for you three to do right now is lay low and let us deal with this."

"I'd feel better if they left Central entirely," Envy put in. "The Homunculi are behind this, I can feel it. They're not going to stop until they get what they want."

"Beside," Isabelle added softly, "it's only a matter of time before they figure out where we are. Pride must have known the locations of all the safe houses, right?"

The others stared at each other in shocked silence. Somehow, that hadn't occurred to any of them. "Well then," Riza finally said, "I guess you three need to get out of here soon."

"Where are we supposed to go, exactly?" Roy asked, sounding very annoyed.

"Risembool," Ed answered. "The old house is still there, and I'm sure the basement is intact. No one would expect us to hide out in a drafty old basement in a burned-down house."

"Won't we be putting Winry and Pinako in danger?" Isabelle asked.

"Too late," Al said. "They're in danger just by knowing me and Ed. Don't let them know you're there and they should be fine."

"So is it settled?" Hughes asked. "You three are going to hide in Risembool?" Roy, Ed, and Isabelle nodded. "Alright then. I'm going to arrange transport for you out of Central. I recommend that you stay here for the rest of today, and wait until after dark to go home and pack anything you need. We'll keep the police busy. Fuery, Breda, you two are in charge of making sure the police stay away from the safe house and that they don't go to these folks' houses after dark. The rest of you…we're still searching for the Homunculi. Starting now, I want two people on the job every minute of the day. Falman, you're in charge of creating a schedule of shifts for us. Now, everyone, get to work."

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Riza had just finished her dinner and was scraping the few scraps into Black Hayate's bowl when she heard a quiet knock on her door. Black Hayate padded over and sniffed the door, then gave the one short, quick bark Riza had learned meant that he recognized the person on the other side. She grabbed her gun, made sure it was loaded, and opened the door just a crack.

There, on the other side, a man in a long black trench coat, a black hat, and dark sunglasses stared back at her. Riza frowned at him and he reached up one black-gloved hand to lower the glasses a bit so she could see his eyes. Riza gasped and pulled the door open just enough for the man to slip inside, then stuck her head out into the hall, took a quick look around, pulled her head back inside and closed the door behind her. By the time she turned around, Roy had shed his hat and jacket and draped them over the back of a nearby chair, where Black Hayate was entertaining himself by sniffing away at them.

"What are you doing here?" Riza hissed at him. "If you're found you'll be arrested, and so will I!"

"Don't worry, we'll be fine," he whispered by way of reassurance. "But I had to see you before we leave, and I won't get a chance to say a proper good-bye tomorrow, so…"

Riza sighed. They had been together for so long now, and yet Roy still couldn't get over his aversion to being affectionate in public. There was no way he would kiss her or hug her in front of the others, not even at a time like this. Not that she minded too much, really, since she was the reserved type as well. And besides, if she went anywhere near him tomorrow it might blow his cover. Pushing those thoughts aside, she took a step towards Roy and soon found herself enveloped in his strong, warm embrace, resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes.

"It's crazy out there right now," he said softly. "Protesters right and left…some in favor of our arrest and some against it, and some just out to have a good time and cause a little mayhem. And yet, no one really seems to know anything except that fifteen innocent Ishbalans died last night and that someone, somewhere, has laid the blame on me and Ed and Isabelle. Hughes is trying to get a meeting with the chief of police to get more details on what happened, but they keep brushing him off. I'm afraid that this is going to lead to another war, Riza."

"This is all so…insane," Riza replied. "What reason would the three of you have to kill Ishbalans? It doesn't make any sense."

"I know, but we can't go back and change what has already happened. We just have to get ourselves out, and trust that our friends and loved ones will come through for us again."

Riza raised her head and looked at Roy, who gave her a brave smile. "I hope we can this time, Roy. I just…the thought of you being gone…the thought of never being able to bring you back…"

"Shh, it's going to be fine. I'll come back, you'll see. And then, when I do…well, with something like this on my record I probably won't be able to work in the military again, much less become Fuhrer. But that will never change how much I love you, Riza, or how much I want to be with you…so when I come back…will you marry me?"

Her brown eyes widened in shock and her mouth dropped open a bit, but then, even though she was so worried and despite all the terrible things going on around her, Riza couldn't help but smile. "Oh Roy! Of course I'll marry you." And then, for one last time, they shared a passionate kiss.

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Ed stared down at the clump of blonde hair he held in his hand, then sighed and handed the scissors to Al. "Better let you finish the job, if I want this to look right," he said. Al just nodded, silently taking the scissors and finishing the job of trimming Ed's hair so that it looked like an almost-perfect imitation of their friend and one-time Ed-impersonator Russell Tringham. Later, at the safe house, Ed would use alchemy to lighten his hair a bit, and would also put in contacts to change his eye color. When the time had come for him to choose a disguise, he had decided to turn the tables and borrow his identity, just as Russell had pretended to be Ed in the past. He hoped it would be a good plan, and that the real Russell wouldn't suffer for it.

"Finished, Nii-san," Al said, stepping back and admiring his handiwork.

"Good," Ed said. "Make sure you clean up in here, just in case they search the house."

Ed went upstairs to finish packing some of his things while Al swept up the cut hairs and disposed of them, along with the scissors he had used to do the job. When he was finished, he joined his brother upstairs. The elder Elric turned to him, holding out his rights hand, from which dangled his silver State Alchemist's watch.

"I'm leaving this with you, Al. It's too dangerous for me to carry it."

"But Nii-san…what if you need it?" Al asked, eyes wide as he stared at his brother's watch.

"It's okay. I won't need it. I'm strong enough without the watch. Besides, I like the idea of it being with you, where it'll be well taken care of."

"Nii-san…"

"Now, Al, I have to go. Make sure you don't show up at the station tomorrow, or people will be suspicious. Keep your head down and don't make a fuss and you should be able to stay out of trouble. You have to promise me that I'll be able to come back here and see you again someday."

Al nodded, then threw his arms around his older brother's neck. "I'll miss you Nii-san!"

"I'll miss you too, Al. Take care of yourself." And with that, Ed was gone.

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"I think that's everything," Isabelle said, looking around her bedroom. She had taken he most non-descript pieces of clothing she had in her collection, leaving behind her uniform and the things she tended to wear all the time and that were therefore more likely to be linked to her. She had also decided to leave all of her pictures of Envy, except for one -- the small picture she kept in the locket he had presented her with that evening. He had been planning on giving it to her in April, on the anniversary of his proposal to her, but since they had no idea how long she was going to be in hiding her had decided to give it to her now instead. The circular pendant had been cleverly crafted so that the small internal frame that held the picture could be flipped, revealing or hiding the picture at will, but only if you knew the mechanism for getting the frame to pop out in the first place. Isabelle planned to tell anyone who asked that it had belonged to her dead sister. After all, no one else would know that the sister in question belonged not to Isabelle, but to the woman she was pretending to be and thus didn't really exist.

Envy nodded glumly from his perch at the foot of their bed. "I think so. You sure you want to do this? Because I could march down to those police officers right now and --"

"And what? Envy, love, you know I don't want to go, but it's not like I have a choice. And right now, there's nothing you can do to prove that I'm innocent. We don't even know what their evidence is."

"But what if I could find that out? Then we could argue it!"

Isabelle smiled sadly. "You're going to have to find it out and start arguing it without me. It's not safe for me or Ed or Roy to stay here while this is going on."

Envy sighed and looked out the window while Isabelle puttered around, checking her small travel bags and making sure everything was in order. Finally, he stood and walked up behind her, pulling her into his arms and resting his chin on the top of her head. "I swear to you," he whispered huskily, "that I am going to get to the bottom of this, and then I will find a way to punish those bastards Pride and Greed and the others. I know they're connected to this, I just know it, and I'm going to prove it."

"I believe you," she whispered back. "Just don't do anything stupid or dangerous, alright? I want to come back to find you alive. You're human now. They can kill you if you're not careful."

"I know that." With that, he picked her up, carried her the few steps back to their bed, and carefully laid her down on it before planting his hands on either side of her head and holding himself up so he could see her. "But being human gives me a strength they don't have, you know -- I want to do things because they're important to me. I want to get to the bottom of this because I love you and want to protect you. They will never know what that sort of thing is like, or the kind of strength it can give someone. Now, how much time do you have before you need to go back to the safe house?"

"About an hour or so. I have to be back by sunrise so we can get ready to leave on the first train out."

Envy smiled mischievously and raised an eyebrow. "Then, seeing as we got interrupted last night, we do have time for one more thing before you go…"

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The following morning, Roy Mustang, Edward Elric, and Isabelle Chamberlain Elric vanished without a trace. At the same time, three seemingly unrelated people boarded the early train to Risembool: a platinum-blonde, green-eyed man named Luke Watson; a young blonde with blue eyes named Russell Tringham; and a red-haired woman named Miriam Lee. All three sat in different cars, and had anyone asked, they would each have denied knowing the other two. And it was a good thing no one questioned the three, for the real Russell Tringham was nowhere near either Central City or Risembool, and both Luke and Miriam didn't really exist (and in fact disappeared the moment Roy and Isabelle arrived in Risembool).

While those three were on the train and then settling into the basement of the old Elric house, the others back in Central threw themselves into solving the mystery of what had happened in the hopes of bringing the three back soon and stopping the civil war threatening to once again engulf Amestris.


	7. Chapter 7

Wow, I'm almost out of uploaded chapters to post...looks like I need to hook up my laptop and upload the rest. And finish the sequel to this (darned plot bunnies)...ah, an authoress's work is never done. So yes, read and review...it'll convince me to hook that laptop up faster :p

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**Chapter 6**

Leo poked his head around the corner, then quickly jerked it back and out of the way of the crowd of rioting Ishbalans who rushed past. "This is crazy," he muttered. "Rick, stay back, I don't want you getting hurt."

"Right!" the younger boy replied, taking one step further back in the ally where he, his brother, and a third person hid.

"Of course this is crazy," the old man replied sadly. "But I've had a long life, and I've seen much craziness. Whatever happened to those poor people a few days ago was more than enough to ignite the long-simmering resentment held by the folks rioting and making general fools of themselves out there."

"I don't understand why they think those three alchemists did it," Rick said, turning his gaze on the old man's tattoo-adorned face.

The man, known to all Ishbalans simply as "The Exile," (they had forgotten his true name long ago and he had no desire to share it with them now) shook his head sadly. "Old habits and old beliefs die hard, young one. Our people have hated and feared alchemy for so long that many are ready to believe anything about alchemists, even those who tried so hard to help us like that young Elric man. They willingly ignore the fact that the young woman being accused wasn't even a State alchemist at the time of the Ishbalan Civil War, and they forget that Mustang repented and wants to see the military reformed. How do you reason with people like that?"

"We can't possible be the only ones who think this is stupid, though," Leo replied bitterly.

"Oh, I very much doubt that we are. Yet, look who's hiding in the ally -- us! We need to find out who else is hiding in allies, and form a group. A coalition of sorts, I suppose, to get to the bottom of this. If nothing else…our innocent brothers and sisters of Ishbal who died that night deserve real justice."

Rick's eyes widened even further. "Does that mean you'll help us then?"

The Exile gave them a tired smile, but he nodded. "Of course. But you boys will have to do all the hard work, I'm getting too old for that sort of thing."

"Don't worry," Leo replied. "Let's aim to have a meeting in three days. I bet me and Rick can collect enough people by then!" And then they were off before the old man could even open his mouth to correct Leo's terrible grammar.

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The gathering was small -- the brothers had only been able to find twenty potentially like-minded people among the Ishbalan camps in the area. But The Exile said that was enough to start, so they decided to hold the meeting anyway.

"Honestly," one woman said, "if they had just accused that Mustang man, I would be more likely to believe them. I mean, he had a big role in the civil war, and I don't completely trust him yet. But that boy Edward Elric? And the woman Isabelle? They have no reason to attack Ishbalans! This whole thing doesn't make a lot of sense to me."

"And yet, we know that alchemy was used at the scene of the crime," a middle-aged man spoke up from the back of the room. "I've got a cousin on the police force, and he said there were definitely signs of alchemy use. Marks on the bodies and the surrounding buildings and all."

The Exile raised his head at that announcement and spoke for the first time in the course of the meeting, which had already dragged on for a good hour or so. "You have a cousin on the police force there, you say?"

"Yes," the man replied.

"He wouldn't by any chance have access to pictures of the crime scene, would he?"

"Yes," the man said again, looking very confused.

"Have him send us some, especially if he can get close-ups of this evidence of alchemy use. I'd like to take a look at them."

"Yes, sir," the man replied nervously, "but I'm sure a lot of the pictures are rather graphic and disturbing --"

"I'm sure they are too," The Exile replied patiently. "But I saw the Civil War up close and personal, and that was far more graphic and disturbing than any crime scene photos ever will be. Please, young man. I have been allowed back into this community despite my use and knowledge of alchemy. At least allow me to use that knowledge for the good of our people."

The gathered people stared in silence for a moment, then the man stood and made for the exit. "Right. I'm going to give my cousin a call and get him to send me some of those pictures."

"Thank you very much," The Exile said to the man's retreating back, then he leaned back in his own chair and pondered this strange turn of events.

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It took about two weeks for the pictures to arrive at the Ishbalan camp, two weeks during which things came closer and closer to spiraling dangerously out of control. In Central City, Riza, Hughes, Fuery, and the others more often than not found their limited time being taken up by fielding questions from the media, trying to keep the police at bay, and dealing with uprisings from rioters in the city. There were Ishbalans rioting over the murders, people rioting in support of the rioting Ishbalans, and counter-riots in support of the three accused State alchemists. Even with the constantly rotating schedule Hughes had put them all on, there was very little time for them to conduct the investigations they felt were needed.

Fortunately, the Ishbalans in the camps didn't have as many worries of this sort. Most of them were getting rather violent towards the government, and those who supported the government and the accused alchemists (or who were at least willing to suspend judgment until all the evidence was is and sorted) just had to keep their heads down. That was difficult to do the day the thick package of crime scene photos arrived from Central, and was also difficult over the five days that it took for The Exile to thoroughly examine all of the pictures and reach a conclusion. In the end, though, he told Leo and Rick that he had made up his mind and asked them to gather the members of their group together one more time. It turned out that the group had grown to about 50 people, for even though Leo and Rick only alerted the original twenty, 50 people in total actually showed up. The Exile arrived last, making his way carefully and slowly to the front of the room, where he laid out a few of the pictures on a table before speaking.

"My fellow Ishbalans," he began, and the crowd instantly fell silent, "as I'm sure you all know, three weeks ago fifteen of our innocent brothers and sisters were brutally slaughtered in Central City. As far as we can tell from the evidence that have so far been released, they were attacked without any provocation and even with no real motive besides being Ishbalans. I think we can all agree that this is a great tragedy and a great injustice, and that those responsible must be brought to justice." He let his eyes wander of the crowd, taking in their nods of agreement. "However, I do not believe that the three alchemists accused of this crime were responsible for it. Until five days ago, I had no proof to support this statement. But then, a stack of photos arrived from a brother of ours who works in the Central City police force. These pictures show the crime scene in great detail, including the evidence that alchemy was used at the scene of the crime. Ladies and gentlemen, there is no denying it -- alchemy was indeed used at the crime scene. But it was not used to commit the crime. Oh no. The alchemy was instead used only after the crime had been committed to make it look like alchemy was involved."

"Are you saying the alchemists have been framed and that someone else did this?" a man in the front exclaimed.

"I'm afraid so," The Exile replied sadly. "This picture, for example, clearly shows a large amount of blood on the wall, as well as a deep hole created by alchemy. Now, if the blood had been put their by the use of alchemy, I would expect the blood to be at least partly inside the hole. But instead, there isn't a drop of blood in the hole, and in fact it looks like some blood was removed when the hole was created."

"But that's just one picture!" a woman objected.

The Exile nodded. "Yes, it is. But all of the pictures I reviewed showed the same sort of evidence, not only on buildings and on the street but on the bodies of our poor Ishbalan brethren. Friends, I have seen alchemy used to injure and kill. I have seen the results. This," he added, waving his gnarled hand at the photos, "simply is not the result of using alchemy to kill. It is the result of killing followed by the use of alchemy to frame alchemists. I believe this very strongly. So strongly, in fact, that I plan to travel to Central to speak with members of the government about this."

"We're going too!" Leo exclaimed, motioning to himself and his brother.

"I'll go with you as well!" a man shouted, and several other voices shouted support as well.

The Exile smiled. "Very well, then, it looks like I have traveling companions. Well, the more the merrier, and the safer, I suppose. It'll be a slow trip, though -- I refuse to take the trains, what with all this commotion. So pack your things! We start out first thing in the morning."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 7**

Isabelle sighed in exasperation as she surveyed her surroundings. Though they had been here for almost five weeks, the place still looked just as terrible as when they had arrived. Plus, it seemed that no matter what they did, the place was cold and damp. No wonder she had been feeling sick for the past few days.

Noises of scuffling overhead caught her attention, and she grabbed one of the heavy boards they always kept ready for attacking intruders. But moments later, Ed's boots appeared, followed shortly by the rest of Ed, a bundle of fresh and freshly-cleaned fish, a bundle of dried wood, and Roy. Isabelle took the wood from Roy and added it to the pile of sticks, leaves, and ashes on the floor while Ed began preparing the fish. They were going to have a good dinner tonight, and it looked like some leftovers for breakfast and lunch tomorrow too.

"No unusual activity in the area," Roy said as he adjusted the makings of their cooking fire. "I couldn't get a hold of the day's newspaper, though."

"It's alright," Isabelle replied. "I just hate being so out of touch. Without a way to get news from the others…"

"I know," Roy replied grimly, snapping his fingers and lighting the fire. He stuck some skewers through some of the fish, grabbed the ones Ed had already skewered, and set them around the edge of the fire to cook.

"On the plus side," Isabelle continued, settling herself on the edge of her makeshift sleeping mat, "I did manage to find a map of Central. If I can get a list of all the murders we think are linked to the Homunculi, I can probably plot them on the map."

"But what good will that do?" Ed asked, sitting next to Roy and watching the fish cook.

Isabelle shrugged. "Maybe nothing. But I'm hoping that there will be a pattern that might tell us something about where the Homunculi are hiding."

The three sat watching and listening to the fire for a while, with Roy occasionally poking the fish to see if they were done. Finally, he pulled the first three skewers out of the ground, keeping one for himself and handing the others to Ed and Isabelle. They ate in silence, then Ed said, "What happens if we find them, though? We can't go back to Central yet."

"We might have to," Roy replied. "It's more important to stop the Homunculi than to save our own necks. And besides…even if we get caught, we have the right to a fair trial"  
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"For the last time, no, we will not hand them over to you!" Riza exclaimed into the phone.

Envy and Al looked up in alarm. "Persistent little bastards, aren't they?" Envy grumbled.

"This is at least the fifth time they've called asking for us to turn Ed and Roy and Isabelle over to them," Al whispered back.

"Seventh, actually," Hughes corrected. "I've been counting."

"I don't get what they're after, though. What's they're goal?" Envy asked.

Hughes shook his head. "They're Ishbalans. They believe that they should have the right to administer their own form of justice on those who killed their people."

"But aren't Ishbalans currently considered citizens of Amestris?" Fuery asked.

"Yeah, sort of. They have a certain level of autonomy and sovereignty within the government. There are circumstances under which they could make this demand and expect us to meet it, but those circumstances don't apply here because the murders weren't committed within the confines of Ishbalan territory."

"Don't they know that?" Envy asked bitterly.

"I don't know," Hughes murmured, turning a worried eye towards Riza, who had just done a very Roy-like thing and slammed the phone down rather than hanging it up gently.

"I can't believe them! Why can't they just take no for an answer?"

Hughes stood and walked over to her so he could pat her on the shoulder. "If all of us were killed, and you thought the only way justice could truly be served was for you to judge and punish the alleged criminal, wouldn't you want to do everything in your power to get that right?"

"Yes," Riza replied wearily. "But this is getting out of hand. There's going to be another civil war within the month, if we're not careful."

Just then, the phone rang again. Riza glared at it and reached for it, but Hughes stopped her and answered it himself. "Hughes! Yes…yes…what? You're kidding…from where? Just now? Oh, they came by train…what? Ok, now you must be kidding…yes, yes, you're right, that sort of persistence demands respect…yes, I'll send Havoc and Falman to escort them up." He hung up, brow furrowed, and turned to the others. "Havoc, Falman, you're to go down to the front gate and escort some guests up here. Looks like a bunch of Ishbalans from one of the camps has arrived and they want a word with us."

"And you're actually going to bring them up here?" Falman asked in alarm.

Hughes nodded. "I don't know if they're the same kids Al and Ed helped, but apparently there are two kids with them, and the group says they've been traveling by foot for the past three weeks to get here. Whatever they have to say must be important. I think we need to hear them out. But we won't take any unnecessary risks. You are all hereby authorized to use force to keep them in line if needed. But try all other means first."

"Right," they replied, then Havoc and Falman left the office to go find their Ishbalan guests. Envy perched himself on the edge of Isabelle's desk and crossed his arms over his chest, scowling at the telephone.

"What's with you?" Hughes asked.

"Nothing," he replied. "But lately, it seems like every little thing reminds me of why I spent four hundred years not trusting anybody, especially humans."

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Greed sauntered into the main room on the tiny hideout he shared with the other Homunculi. Lust and Sloth looked up from where they had been lounging on the couch, but his arrival barely interrupted the chess match going on between Pride and Wrath. Said match looked like it was about to come to a violent end -- Pride had Wrath in check, and Wrath hated losing. Sure enough, Pride's next move proved to be the one to defeat the younger Homunculus, and true to form, Wrath's angry reaction sent the chess table and the playing pieces flying. Lust and Sloth ducked to avoid the pieces sailing through the air, and Greed raised his hands to catch a few of the pieces that came his way. Pride was the first to notice his presence.

"Ah, Greed, welcome back. And thank you for catching those, it makes clean-up a little easier."

"My pleasure," Greed replied. "But that's obviously not why I'm here," he added as Lust and Sloth joined Pride in picking up the chess pieces and Wrath sulked in the corner. "I have just come from the very heart of the city and I have the most delicious news."

"Oh?" Lust asked.

"Yes indeed!" Greed exclaimed, rounding the couch and setting his pieces down on the newly-settled chess board. "In addition to all the mayhem our escapades have caused for the good government of Amestris, it seems that the government is on the verge of getting itself into trouble by refusing to turn over the three alchemists to the Ishbalans! Of course, we all know that those three are most likely no longer in Central, since our own Sloth has managed to discover that our lovely former ally Envy has been sleeping alone lately…and we all know that he never does any bed-related activities alone." That earned a snicker from Wrath, but Greed cleared his throat and continued. "Also, I just witnessed the most fascinating thing ever: a group of raggedy Ishbalans from outside the city being admitted to the military headquarters! I do have to wonder what that's all about."

"Maybe we should send Sloth over to spy on them," Pride suggested as he arranged the chess pieces.

"Oh, no no no," Greed replied. "Really, there wouldn't be a point, the meeting is probably over by now. I just want to see what sorts of fun things the government will try to do now…I mean, they're going to tear themselves apart no matter what. It's just a matter of when and how."

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So, how was it? I liked writing it, so I hope someone liked reading it. Don't forget to leave a review! 


	9. Chapter 9

New chapter! In which everyone is nervous, Ishbalans are surprised, and Envy impersonates Hughes. Yeah. Gotta read to find out why...and don't forget to review! The authoress loves her reviewers.

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**Chapter 8**Hughes, Riza, Envy, Al, Breda, and Fuery were very tense. In fact, none of them could remember the last time they had been this tense. Riza was fingering the butt of her favorite gun, Envy was pondering what form he could take that would be a good disguise and effective for fighting (he settled on his normal green-haired form), Al was busy making sure that both his and his brother's silver watches were attached firmly to his belt, and Breda and Fuery were having a hissed discussion over exactly how many Ishbalans they could handle given the number and skill levels of the people in the room. Only Hughes seemed calm, and even he was sweating a bit. 

Finally, the sound of footsteps outside the office heralded the return of Havoc and Falman with their guests. The office doors creaked open and those gathered inside rose to their feet, staring at the doors as though their very lives depended on what lay behind them.

"Here we are," Havoc's voice said. "I hope you weren't planning on meeting Colonel -- er, General Mustang. He's not here today, and we don't know when he'll be in again."

"It's quite all right, young man," an old-sounding voice replied. "But this information is too urgent for us to await his return."

"Why didn't you come by train, then?" Falman asked, stepping through the doors and looking back over his shoulder.

"Trains are too dangerous at times like this," the same voice replied. As Falman stepped to the side, the others finally got a clear look at the man. He had thin, shoulder-length grey hair and his face was marked with a strange tattoo. Behind him, a group of about eight Ishbalan men and women stood, all looking imposing but tired and dusty. And flanking the old man --

"Leo! Rick!" Al exclaimed. "What are you two doing here?"

The boys turned to him in shock. Leo glared at him and stepped in front of his younger brother. "Who the hell are you?"

"Leo!" the old man scolded. "Mind your manners!"

Al chuckled. "It's okay," he said. "Last time they saw me I was still a suit of armor. I'm Alphonse Elric. You know, Ed's little brother. Remember Ed?"

"Oh yeah!" Leo exclaimed, his glare being replaced by a grin. "Sorry about that, I didn't recognize you without the armor. Is Ed here?"

Al's face fell. "Er…actually, no."

The old man nodded sagely. "And the woman who was accused -- Isabelle, I think her name was -- she's not here either, is she?" All eyes turned to Envy, whose lips twitched and who gave a sharp cough. "I'll take that as a no," the old man replied. "So it seems that all three have gone, have they? Left Central for their own safety? Probably a wise move. Not the best, but not the worst, either."

"Excuse me," Riza interrupted, "but who are you and why should we trust you?"

"I don't give out my name these days," the old man replied. "Everyone in the camp just knows me as 'The Exile,' even though I'm no longer exiled. You see, Ishbalans don't particularly care for alchemy, but I practiced it anyway and was banished for it. But things have changed now, and I've been allowed back."

Hughes nodded. "And your companions?"

Leo and Rick stepped forward. "We're members of a group of Ishbalans who support the government and believe that the three State alchemists accused of murdering those other Ishbalans are innocent," Leo declared proudly. "And we have proof!"

"Really?" the others said in shock.

"Well, we have proof that alchemy wasn't used to kill those people," The Exile replied. "And we believe very firmly that those three didn't stand to gain anything from the deaths of Ishbalans, and neither does your government. After all, Mustang has been very repentant of his past actions, Ed and his brother Al here did a lot to help us out, and this Isabelle has never been involved in anything to do with Ishbalans. In fact, she wasn't even a State alchemist during the previous war!"

"That's right, she joined the year before Al and I did," Envy said. "And we just joined last year."

The Exile nodded, then turned to one of his companions and took the package the man offered him. "I have here some photos we were able to get from the police. Photos of the crime scene, you know. And after looking at them, I've concluded that alchemy was indeed used at the scene, but only after the murders were committed. Look here." With that, he pulled the photos from their envelope and handed a few around while describing them to Hughes and his friends. "You see the way the blood spatters, and how the damage created by the alchemy interrupts the patterns. That leads me to believe that alchemy was performed after these people died."

Envy held several pictures in his hands as though they were some sort of ghastly fan, eyes darting from picture to picture. "Yeah, this all looks familiar all right," he said. "This one here…I'd say Greed did her in. Oh, and this guy is probably Pride's victim. And look at the puncture marks on this one -- definitely Lust. And these two look like they suffocated or drowned or something, so that must be Sloth."

"Young man, you know the people who might have done this?" The Exile asked in alarm.

Envy hesitated, then answered, "Let's just say I have more than a passing familiarity with their work."

"Ok, so assume they did do it," Hughes interjected before the still-shocked Exile could say anything else. "Who did the alchemy, then? Homunculi can't use alchemy."

"Wrath can," Envy said quietly.

Silence. Then, Riza broke the silence with a sharp, "You're kidding."

"I wish," Envy replied. "And it looks like you need to get your memory checked, since you and Wrath fought the last time we came up against the Homunculi. Wrath's a vicious little bugger, and he can do alchemy to rival Ed's. I would bet you anything that he did the alchemy we're seeing here. Plus, I wouldn't put it past the others to use him like that, or to use him for anything else they thought he'd be useful for."

Hughes nodded, then turned to the phone. "Fuery, are these phones all on the same line?"

"Yes," the younger man replied.

"Good. I'm calling the police headquarters. Eh -- 'scuse me -- William, you need to listen in on this. The rest of you can if you want." With Hughes on one phone, Envy on another, and the others (both military personel and Ishbalans) crowded around the rest of the phones, Hughes placed his call. The phone on the other end rang a few times, then a harried sounding woman answered.

"Central City Police Headquarters, how may I direct your call?"

"This is Maes Hughes, I'm with General Roy Mustang's office, and I'd like to speak with the chief of police about the case of the fifteen murdered Ishbalans."

"The chief of police is very busy at the moment --"

"This is more important than whatever it is he's doing. If he gets on the phone with me right now, we might be able to help him crack this case. Isn't that what he wants?"

"Well, I suppose --"

"Then get him on the line." As the sound of cheap elevator music filled the line, Hughes turned to Envy and rolled his eyes. Envy just shook his head, green hair swinging around his blue-clad shoulders. Suddenly, the music vanished, and a man's voice came through the line.

"This is the chief of the police. Am I speaking to one Maes Hughes?"

"Yes, sir," Hughes replied. "I'd like to ask you for a few details from the night of the murder."

"Oh? What do you want to know, and what are we going to get out of it?"

Hughes turned a panicked eye to the rest of the room, then gasped when he heard his own voice apparently coming over the line. "Well, that really depends on just how much you give us. I'm sure you know all about the Homunculi that have been plaguing the city. We have a specialist in dealing with them right here in the office…we would be willing to let you borrow him for a few days."

The real Hughes turned towards Envy, who had taken on Hughes's appearance, and thus his voice, for the sake of that little performance. Riza, Al, and the others, who were used to such things out of Envy now, hadn't taken notice, but the Ishbalans were staring at him in open-mouthed shock. Hughes nodded his thanks to the former Homunculus, who nodded and winked and returned to his normal form as the police chief answered, "Yes, well, that would be most helpful to us! How long can we borrow him?"

Taking a cue from Envy, Hughes replied, "Like I said, that depends on how helpful you are now. The more questions you answer, and the better the information you give us, and the more time we'll give you with our specialist."

The police chief sighed, then said, "All right. What do you want to know?"

Hughes motioned to Fuery to begin taking notes, then said, "First, tell me how you found out about the murders."

"That's public knowledge," the other man replied. "We got a phone call from a woman who sounded quite frightened. She only got to tell us that her group was being attacked and to give us a partial address before she was silenced."

"And by 'silenced' you mean 'killed'."

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

"Right. What did you find when you got there?"

The police chief took a deep breath, then said, "It was like a scene from a nightmare, only worse. Fifteen people, all in the worst shape I've ever seen. Cut, stabbed, strangled, torn apart…and the area around them was an absolute disaster. There was blood everywhere, big gashes and holes in the walls and the street, it was just terrible. But there was this one kid who somehow managed to survive."

Out of the corner of his eye, Hughes saw Envy tense. "A kid?"

"Yes. Apparently, he was just passing by when he saw the Ishbalans being attacked, and the villains attacked him too. I'm not sure how he survived, though."

Hughes frowned. "Didn't he tell you?"

"Now that you mention it, I'm not sure if we even questioned him on that…"

The others in the office were obviously upset by that, glaring at the phones and shaking their heads in disgust at the apparent lack of proper questioning technique demonstrated by the police. Hughes tried to ignore them while he continued on with his questions. "What did he look like?"

"Oh, you know, a typical kid I suppose, though his hair was a bit on the long side. Bright red hair, kind of purplish eyes…really pale skin. Like he hasn't been outside much. Then again, thinking of what he had just been through, well, I'd be pale too."

"Yes, I guess so," Hughes murmured. "What did he say?"

"Well, he described what had happened, and he described the criminals to us. He said they were using alchemy, and the descriptions he gave matched Roy Mustang, Edward Elric, and Isabelle Chamberlain Elric."

Hughes nodded. "And how did the boy sound when he was describing all of this?"

"Very calm, really. I was surprised, but then, I'm no expert on kids. Seems like he should have been hysterical, but so many people say kids react to things differently, I just kind of chalked it up to that."

"Hmm, yes, I suppose," Hughes replied. "Well, I think you've earned yourself a few days with our specialist at least. I've got someone waiting to see me at the moment, though, so I'll have to have someone call you later to set up the details. Thank you for your help." Without even waiting for a response, Hughes hung up and turned to Envy.

"It has Wrath written all over it," Envy replied as the others hung their phones up as well.

"But doesn't Wrath have black hair?" Al asked.

"Yeah, but he could have dyed it and no one would know," Envy replied. "I'm telling you, Hughes, this is Homunculi work through and through. They were trying to finger the government and incite rebellion."

"I didn't think they were that clever," Riza murmured.

"Not like they have to be," Envy replied bitterly. "All they have to do is think back to how the last civil war got going. That was the Homunculi too, you know." The Ishbalans nodded in agreement.

"That just means we have to redouble our efforts to find them," Hughes said firmly. "All right, everybody, get back to work on finding those Homunculi." He turned to the Ishbalans. "You look like you could use some rest. We can put you up in the barracks for a few days, if you'd like."

The Exile smiled warmly at him and shook his hand. "Thank you, but we know of a community of Ishbalans here in Central that might be able to house us. It would be rude of us to refuse their hospitality. We will be here for a few more days, though, so please let us know if we can be of any more use to you."

"Thank you so much for your assistance," Hughes replied. "I'll have Havoc and Falman see you out. Safe journey to your friends' homes."


	10. Chapter 10

I...honestly don't know why I'm posting this at almost 3:00am my time, since that means that it's not going to be anyplace easily found when a lot of my readers are around, except that I just dealt with some rough crap related to my job and posting chapters makes me feel better. But you don't want to hear about that. It's a long angsty story, unlike this chapter, which includes drama but little or no angst. So if you enjoy it, even a little...please hit the review buttion and let me know.

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**Chapter 9**

Isabelle sipped her water carefully, hoping that this time she would actually be able to keep it down. This morning was the worst yet -- no matter what she ate or drank, she would throw it up a few minutes later. It was miserable, and if it weren't for that fact that she and the others had to stay hidden, she would have gone to see a doctor by now. After waiting for a second to make sure she wouldn't have to make yet another run to their makeshift bathroom, she turned her attention to the map of Central laid out before her.

The map was old and a little outdated, but Roy had been able to fix that with a few quick strokes of a pen. Ed had taken some small bits of metal and colored glass and had transmuted Isabelle a set of push-pins with colored heads, so she could mark things on the map. Isabelle herself had donned a disguise and gone to the local public library, where she was able to compile a list of the dates, times, locations, and other data about each of the Central City murders leading up to the attack on the Ishbalans. She had spent her past couple of mornings organizing the list, then searching for each of the locations on the map and marking each one with a pin. And now, she was ready to present her theory to her companions when the returned.

Roy was the first to return, carrying a bag full of edible plants from the surrounding area. He found Isabelle sitting beside her pin-marked map, staring sadly down at the locket she held in her hands. "Hey. Are you alright?"

"Hm?" she asked, looking up at him. "Oh. Well…not really, no."

"What's wrong?"

She held up the locket, showing him the small picture of Envy inside. "I miss him so much, Roy. And being sick like I have been lately…well, he would normally be taking care of me at a time like this." She looked up at her friend and commanding officer and gave him a sad smile. "It just all seems so unfair, you know?"

"I do know," Roy replied, settling down beside her and giving her shoulders a quick but comforting squeeze. "I miss Riza so much it hurts, and I know Ed is worried about Al. But we'll be able to go back soon, I'm sure. Envy and Al and the others won't let the Homunculi get away with this. I bet they'll be coming to get us any day now."

"I don't think we can wait for that," Isabelle replied, snapping the locket shut and putting it back on before turning to point to her map. Before she could explain anything else, though, Ed appeared bearing a few fish tied on a string.

"There has got to be something else edible around here, I'm so tired of fish," he grumbled. "What are you two up to?"

"I was just about to show Roy my map," Isabelle replied. "Come see." Ed dropped the fish in a bucket and came to squat next to the short table holding the map. "Ok, so, after I got all that info from the library, I came back and plotted the locations of all of the murders on the map. Now, remember, we're assuming that they're all somehow connected to the Homunculi. And look at this. The locations of the murders all surround this one area -- the southwest end of the bad section of the Old City."

"So you think the Homunculi are tied to that place?" Roy asked.

"I think they're based there," Isabelle replied.

Ed nodded. "Makes sense," he said. "Do the different colors have any meaning?"

Isabelle shook her head. "No, there weren't enough patterns to allow for that. But I did notice that, if you plot the attacks by date as well as location, no two ever occurred near each other in close succession. They wouldn't go near a spot again for a few weeks at least."

"Like they were trying to make it look random," Roy said. "And it worked, too. No one except Envy ever really suspected that it was them. No one ever even believe that all of the murders were related, for that matter."

"But even Envy hadn't thought of doing this," Isabelle replied. "We have to figure out a way to let the others know so they can focus on that area of the city."

Ed cleared his throat. "Yeah, but how? As soon as one of us tries to send a letter back to the others, it'll be noticed."

"So we go back," Isabelle replied firmly, "and we investigate ourselves."

"Living out here really has gotten to you, hasn't it?" Roy chastised. "You used to be so logical and rational. If we go back to Central, we'll be arrested on sight!"

"That just means we have to avoid getting caught. Or rather, I don't have to get caught. You two don't have to come with me, but I'm going back," Isabelle said.

"I'm going with you," Ed replied. "Someone needs to watch out for you."

Roy sighed in exasperation. "Well, if you and Shrimp are going, I better go too. No way you'll make it on your own," he added over Ed's shouted protests.

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Pride tapped his pointer against the map of Central hanging on the wall and gave a firm nod. "They take this route every evening to return to their lodgings. If we want to attack them, all we have to do is pick a spot on their route and wait. It's fool-proof."

"And will we be using Wrath as out witness again?" Lust asked.

Pride pondered this for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, but we can't have him look the same as last time. That will raise suspicions. I think he would make a believable blonde."

Wrath wrinkled his nose. "I don't want to look like the Fullmetal pipsqueak."

"Don't worry, you won't look like the Fullmetal pipsqueak," Sloth soothed. "But you need to do a good job this time, just like you did last time."

"That's right," Greed said. "This country is just one step away from civil war. This will push them over the edge."

"Who are we accusing this time?" Lust asked.

"I don't think it really matters. Government supporters would probably be the best choice, though," Pride said. "All we need is something that will anger the Ishbalan community."

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Leo and Rick ran long beside The Exile, laughing and chasing each other around like normal little boys. The other members of their group chuckled at the boys' antics. Even The Exile smiled, a rare thing for him.

"Leo, watch this!" Rick shouted, jumping up on the wall of the bridge they were about to cross.

"Be careful!" Leo exclaimed, running towards his brother.

He never made it there. Before he and the others knew what had happened, they were under attack. Leo grabbed The Exile's hand and dragged him into the nearest ally, where they huddled behind a set of large dumpsters out of sight of the fight going on out in the streets. Leo poked his head out long enough to check on his brother's whereabouts. Rick had scrambled under the bridge and was now hiding there, also avoiding the fight. Leo watched in horror as the attackers continued their fight, slaughtering the other Ishbalans before his eyes. And then, when it was all over, he watched as the smallest of the attackers -- he couldn't have been older than twelve -- went around the site performing alchemy.

"That must be the one called Wrath," The Exile whispered to Leo.

Leo nodded. "Which means that the rest must be Homunculi too."

Once the smallest attacker was done with his alchemy, the two men in the group approached him and set about helping complete his disguise. Then they and the two women with them left. Once they were out of sight, the boy looked around, then set off up the road at a leisurely pace. Leo frowned, motioned for The Exile to stay put, then slipped from his hiding place and followed the other boy at a distance. He listened while the boy made a panicked-sounding phone call to the police, then made sure he was hidden while the boy turned and made his way back to the crime scene. Once he was out of sight, Leo rushed to the phone booth and quickly called information, telling the operator that it was an emergency and he needed to be linked to Roy Mustang's office. At first, he though he wasn't going to be put through, but then someone answered.

"General Mustang's office, Fuery speaking."

"Mr. Fuery! This is Leo…you know, the Ishbalan kid."

"Leo? Oh, right! You were here the other day. What happened? You don't sound so good."

"No, it's pretty bad. We…well…my friends and I were attacked and…and…I think most of them are dead! You gotta send someone out here to help, Mr. Fuery. They had a kid with them who could do alchemy, and he just called the police about the attacks. It's gonna be like the last time all over again!"

"Ok, right, listen to me -- stay right where you are. I'll need the location…what Hughes? Yeah, it's that Leo kid, he says they were attacked and it sounds like it was the Homunculi…Leo, listen, I'm sending a couple of people out there right now, just give me the location and then stay where you are."

Leo gave Fuery the location as best he could, then hung up and settled in to wait, hoping that his brother and The Exile wouldn't be discovered by the creepy kid before Fuery's friends arrived.


	11. Chapter 11

New chapter! With lots of Wrath...and with Envy being really angry at Wrath...and with a bunch of other stuff. Don't forget to review! Pretty please?

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**Chapter 10**

Hughes brought the car to a screeching halt amidst the police cars that had already gathered on one end of the bridge. He and Envy scrambled from their respective seats, Envy hefting the pistol Riza had let him borrow. They made their way across the bridge, the former Homunculus throwing glares and snarls right and left at the few police brave enough to try to stop them. Finally, they arrived at the actual scene, to find a few police men and women picking through the bodies, a couple more examining the crime scene, a small group taking care of Rick and The Exile, and the police chief. And standing beside the police chief --

"That's Wrath all right," Envy hissed at Hughes. "Looks like he dyed his hair, but it's definitely him."

"Think he recognizes you?" Hughes hissed back.

Envy stared at Wrath until the boy noticed him, then narrowed his violet eyes and growled. Wrath paled even more and took a step back, raising his hand to point at Envy. "Yep, he recognizes me," Envy said. "Let's go."

The pair stalked forward and Hughes called out, " 'Scuse me! You the chief of police?"

"Yeah, that's me. Who are you?" The other man replied suspiciously.

"I'm Maes Hughes. We talked on the phone, remember? We got an anonymous tip about another attack in this area, so I grabbed my Homunculus expert and we came out. Who's the kid?"

"Oh, he's the witness. He called us for help."

"Poor kid," Hughes said, injecting a convincing amount of sorrow into his voice. "You know, it would really help us out if we could talk to him a bit too."

"Oh, I don't know if I could allow --"

"We outrank you," Envy said. "Hughes here is just being polite by asking. Now, let's take the kid back to the police station, and I'll question him, okay? Great!"

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Wrath stared at the bare walls of the room where he had been taken, considering all of his options. There weren't many. And now, he was about to be questioned by the one person he would have been perfectly happy to never see again -- Envy. Greed and Pride might be of the opinion that humanity and marriage had mellowed him, but the look Envy had given him out by the bridge told Wrath otherwise. Wrath was certain that Envy had figured out that he and the other remaining Homunculi were behind the murders of the first group of Ishbalans, and thus also behind the murder accusation being leveled at Envy's wife. You could make a Homunculus into a human, it seemed, but that didn't tame him completely, especially not when he had good reason to be furious.

Finally, the door swung open, and Envy stepped inside. He had shed his uniform, revealing the black midriff top and skort that Wrath knew so well. "Hello there, Wrath," Envy said with mock cheerfulness. "Fancy meeting you here."

"E-Envy…" Wrath stuttered. "I didn't do it!"

"Bullshit," Envy replied, slamming his hands down on the table and making Wrath jump. "You might not have actually murdered anyone, but you sure as hell were there and you performed the alchemy that framed Roy, Ed, and Isabelle. You think I'm about to forgive you for that?"

Wrath's eyes darted around. "Greed made me do it!"

"Don't worry, we'll be getting him soon enough," Envy replied. "But right now, it's just you and me…and I want to know where the hell you slimy bastards have been hiding all this time."

"Like I'd ever tell you," Wrath spat.

Envy sighed. "Ah Wrath, I'm not a violent person anymore, but if I need to beat your sorry ass to get the information out of you don't think for even a second that I won't." He cracked his knuckles as though to emphasize his point.

"I'm still not telling," Wrath replied, trying to sound very brave but looking terrified. He had seen Envy in a rage, before, and it wasn't pretty.

"Well, then, looks like I get to practice my fight skills on you…" Envy said.

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Hughes winced at the sound of something crashing in the interrogation room. "Are his methods always this violent?" the chief of police asked.

"No," Hughes replied, "but he knows just how bad that kid in there can be, and he's determined to get the information we need. But I know he gave the kid a chance to talk first."

"But still, he's just a little kid…"

Hughes turned to the man, shocked. "Just because he's a kid doesn't mean he's innocent. Take a good look at him -- I bet he's the same exact kid who was your witness last time around too. There's not a drop of innocence in his body anymore."

Without warning, the door to the room flew open and Envy and Wrath tumbled out, hands at each other's throats. Suddenly, Wrath became very aware of where he was, and before anyone could stop him he slipped from Envy's grasp and took off. Envy shouted after him and the police chief ordered people to give chase, but it was no use. Wrath was long gone.

"Not that it really matters too much," Envy said, standing up and stretching. "I know where they're hiding now. They've got a place in the Old City. Let me at the phone, I need to give Fuery the address and then we need to get over there. We don't have any time to waste."

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Isabelle carefully leaned an eye around the corner, then jerked back just in time to avoid being hit by the small being flying towards her. She frowned as it ran past, then leaned out once more to watch it. "Hey Ed!" she hissed. "Did you see that?"

"Yep," Ed replied. "I think it was Wrath."

"Me too. The hair was the wrong color, though."

"Hair color is easy enough to change," Roy reminded her. "Let's follow him."

The three alchemists slipped from their hiding spot and set off after the small being, catching up just in time to see him disappear into what looked like an old, run-down warehouse of some sort. But there was a wire fence separating them from the building. Had Wrath jumped the fence? Isabelle's dark eyes darted around until she found what she was looking for -- a spot in the fence that was bent as though something had fallen on it long ago, and as a result was lower than the rest of the fence. Beside it, a few old logs provided makeshift steps up the side of the fence, to the spot where what used to be the top edge bent inward towards the rickety old building. Ed scrambled up the logs first, pausing at the top just long enough to help Isabelle up before climbing onto the bent part of the fence and jumping down into the old warehouse's grounds. Isabelle helped Roy up, and the two hurried after Ed. With a quick check to make sure they hadn't scratched themselves on the fence or hurt themselves on the jump down, they were off, darting from shadow to shadow across the grounds. They arrived at the old door where Wrath had disappeared into the building, to find that the large metal door had come off most of its hinges and had tilted so that a small opening remained between it and the wall. The three slipped inside and found themselves in a dark, dank hallway, where they could hear nothing except their own breathing. There was so little light in the hallway that they could barely see each other, much less anything around them.

"Ok, now what?" Roy whispered.

Ed glanced around, then took a few steps to the left and abruptly stopped as he came in contact with a brick wall. "This way won't work," he replied.

"Right. This way, then," Isabelle said, turning to the right and setting off down the hall, dragging her hand along the wall for guidance.

"And what exactly are we going to do when we find the Homunculi?" Ed hissed.

In front of him, Isabelle shrugged. "Fight like hell and hope we make it out alive."


	12. Chapter 12

Aww, I'm sad. No reviews for the last three chapters...has it been that bad? I sure hope not. Anyway, just a few more chapters to go after this. And maybe another sequel (because the plot bunnies won't leave me alone, darn things), but only if people want it posted. And there's only one way to tell me if you want more...

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**Chapter 11**

Envy stepped out of Hughes's car and headed for the large troop transport vehicle that had just arrived. Riza jumped out before the truck had stopped moving and ran towards her approaching friend. "Anything happening yet?"

"Not yet," Envy replied. "How are Leo and Rick and the Exile?"

"Traumatized. They watched the Homunculi kill all of their friends, after all. But I think they'll be alright. Gracia and Sheska are with them right now, and Falman is going to be calling some therapists for them in the morning."

"Good," Envy replied, watching as Al, Havoc, Breda, Fuery, and Falman appeared from the back of the troop transport, along with several other soldiers he didn't recognize. Three more troop transports arrived, followed by two much smaller vehicles carrying weapons. "We're not going to have much time. Wrath got out half an hour ago, and he's a fast little creature. He might have managed to warn the others already."

"Are we going to try to capture them and bring them in?" Riza asked as Fuery and Al joined her.

Envy shook his head. "If we manage to immobilize them safely, then fine, we can try to bring them in. But we should focus on sealing them again."

"Sealing?" Fuery asked.

Envy smiled grimly. "You can't kill something without a soul, you know."

"Ah. Right," Fuery replied, looking uncomfortable but determined.

"We're set!" Hughes shouted.

"Good!" Envy replied. "Ok, people, let's go."

"And let's make sure we get the bastards this time," Riza added.

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"Greed! Pride! We have to get out of here!" Wrath shouted as he threw himself through the door into the common room of their hideout.

Pride looked up from his book while Greed appeared from the adjoining bedroom and Lust and Sloth poked their heads in from the door to the other hallway that connected their hideout room to the rest of the warehouse. "What's wrong?" Pride asked.

"They know where we are! We have to get out before they come for us!"

"Who knows where we are?" Sloth asked.

Wrath turned to her, eyes wide in fear. "Envy," he whispered.

Before he knew what had hit him, Greed had crossed the room, grabbed Wrath by the shirt, and thrown him into the opposite wall. "How the hell did Envy find out where we are? Did you actually _tell_ him, you idiot?"

Wrath glared at him from where he had fallen to the floor. "It's not like I had a _choice_ you know, or have you forgotten just how strong he is?"

"What the hell is he going to do, kill you?" Greed shouted. "You're a Homunculus, you can't die!"

"That really doesn't matter right now, Greed," Pride said. "If Envy know where we are, it's only a matter of time before he shows up here, and I really don't want to think what will happen then."

"He'll be cleaning up after me and my mess, as usual," a new voice said. "He's pretty good at those nice domestic tasks now, you know."

The Homunculi looked towards the sound of the voice, and Greed laughed. "Well, well, well, if it isn't our little Isabelle," he said. "And her friends! Mustang and the chibi! This is our lucky night!"

"We know what you did, Greed," Ed said, stepping forward and glaring at the Homunculus before him. "And we're not going to let you get away with it."

"There's no excuse for killing innocent civilians," Roy added.

Pride shook his head and set his book down. "Oh, how wrong you are, young man. Just look at what the deaths of those Ishbalans have done to Amestris! Really, I can't wait to see what the latest attack will do…this country is about to fall apart, thanks to us."

"And also thanks to us," Wrath's voice came from close to Isabelle's elbow, "we're going to be rid of you three too!"

Isabelle's head whipped around, but Wrath was too fast, and before she knew it, she was sinking down the wall across the room, shaking her head in an effort to clear the stars from her eyes. This was not off to a good start, not at all. Before she had managed to even pick herself up off the floor, Ed and Roy and thrown themselves into the fight. Isabelle looked around and, noticing that Sloth was relatively open, she launched herself at the other woman. Sloth retaliated by simply turning into a puddle of water, but as far as Isabelle was concerned that was fine. In missing Sloth, she brought her hand down hard on one of the many shards of broken glass littering the floor (the result of Wrath's frequent tantrums). Painful, yes, but very useful, for now she had a way to quickly scrawl a messy transmutation circle on each of her palms. And now, she was ready to join the fray.

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The soldiers, led by Envy and Riza, had just managed to find the entrance to the warehouse, when they heard the loud sounds of a fight from deeper within the building. "What was that?" Fuery asked from behind them.

"Sounds like a fight," Envy said.

"Sounds like an alchemy-assisted fight," Riza corrected.

"Could they be fighting each other?" Hughes asked.

Envy didn't bother waiting for the others before following the sounds of the fighting. "If they are, then we can make use of that, can't we? Come on, stop lounging around and get moving!" The others scrambled through the door and followed Envy down the hall. In just a few minutes, they had arrived at the entrance to the Homunculi's common area lair, and stepped into absolute chaos.

"Yep, they're all here…" Envy said, staring in awe at the battle.

"Is that Ed?" Al asked, coming to stand beside Envy.

"I don't know about Ed, but that's definitely Roy," Riza replied.

Envy stared for a moment, then shouted, "Isabelle!" and dove into the fray.

"Envy!" she exclaimed in response. That moment of distraction was almost enough for Lust to catch up with her, but she dodged out of the way just in time and gave Envy a clear path to attack the other woman.

By the entrance to the room, Al tossed Ed his silver watch, and the two brothers charged Pride, who had been busy fighting with Ed until the others arrived. Hughes and a few of the soldiers took up strategic posts around the room, where they proceeded to attack the Homunculi with bullets and thrown blades whenever they had an opening. Riza, Havoc, and Fuery had ganged up on Greed, who definitely did not like getting shot at. Wrath was doing his damnedest to stay out of the way of the squad led by Breda and Falman, but it was no use. Even Sloth found that turning to water was difficult, as it made her more prone to being trampled and turning into mist or vapor wasn't really feasible. In a matter of minutes, the Homnuculi found themselves completely surrounded. Envy stepped to the front of the crowd circling his former comrades and planted his hands on his hips, grinning wickedly at them.

"And just look who we have here," he said. "Looks like you're surrounded with no escape. And Wrath, don't you dare try to alchemize your way out of this, because I will hurt you very badly if you do." Wrath just glared at him and sulked.

"You can't win like this," Pride said serenely.

"Sorry, but we already have," Isabelle said.

"Indeed," Roy agreed. "Because you see, we now have the former Fuhrer in our custody…and he's going to go tell all of Amestris just exactly what he is, and what he did. Oh, and in the process, he's going to clear the names of three innocent people."

Pride just sniffed at him. "I will never do it."

"We could seal you instead," Ed said.

Greed laughed. "There's no sealing transmutation circle in here!"

"There is now," Isabelle said. The people who had been gathered around her stepped aside, a sealing array drawn carefully (if somewhat messily) in what appeared to be the combined contents of the pens those around her had been carrying. Greed and the others paled, and Wrath hid behind Sloth.

"You can come with us peacefully and talk, or you can all be sealed away one by one. Your choice," Envy said.

Finally, Pride wilted and nodded. "Fine then. I'll go with you. What the others do is up to them."

As the soldiers escorted Pride out, Fuery and Havoc took over the job of questioning the other Homunculi. Greed put up a fuss, so Ed, Al, and Roy started up another fight with him until they managed to herd him onto the sealing circle, and Isabelle performed the required transmutation to seal him away yet again. Upon seeing that, Lust and Sloth also went without a fight. Wrath was more difficult -- he didn't want to be sealed, but he didn't really want to go with the military people, either. In the end, it was decided that he would be left to his own devices, but he would be placed under very strict surveillance. And if he evaded his watchers or hurt anyone else, he would have to answer to Envy. That appeared to be more than enough to keep him in line.

That night, the group made their way back to Headquarters, their prisoners in tow, and began the long process of cleaning up the mess the Homunculi had made.

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"And so, it is with deep remorse that I admit to you, the people of Amestris, that I have been less than truthful these past several years. Additionally, the deaths of over twenty innocent Ishbalans can be directly attributed to the actions of myself and my colleagues among the Homunculi, of which I am of course one. And of course, I want you all to know that General Roy Mustang and his subordinates, Edward Elric and Isabelle Chamberlain Elric, are completely innocent of any involvement in the murders of the Ishbalans." Pride surveyed the gawking crowd before him, then turned to Roy and the other Generals. "Therefore, it is with great remorse that I officially resign the position of Fuhrer of Amestris, leaving the position open for one of these fine men to fill. I thank you all for your attention today." And with that, he stepped down from the podium and allowed Riza and Isabelle to escort him away, back to the prison cell he had been occupying since the previous night. General Hakuro took his place and began some crowd-wrangling, and once the event was officially over, Roy and the others flooded into Roy's office for a round of greetings and catching-up.

Roy and Riza had given up on their self-imposed ban on showing affection in the office and had taken over a corner, making it their new make-out spot. Ed and Al were huddled around Ed's desk, catching up on news, while Envy and Isabelle cuddled in their own little corner. All was happy and calm -- for a moment. Suddenly, without warning, Isabelle leapt from her comfortable spot on Envy's lap and raced off to the nearest bathroom. Ed, Roy, and the others looked up, and Envy turned a burning glare on his half-brother and the General.

"Someone want to explain what's wrong with my wife?"

"We don't know," Ed said apologetically. "She started getting sick a little while after we went into hiding, but we couldn't risk taking her to a doctor."

Envy fumed, but he didn't bother pushing the issue with Ed or Roy. Instead, he went after Isabelle. He caught up with her just as she was leaving the bathroom, and she gave him a weak smile.

"You alright?" he asked. "Ed said you've been sick for a while now."

"Oh, yeah. I need to go see a doctor now that I'm back. I mean, I doubt it's anything life-threatening…it hasn't been getting any worse since it started, but it isn't going away either."

"You should definitely go soon then," Envy said, gently wrapping his arms around her and kissing her cheek. "But first, I think we need to call it a day here in the office and head home for a little rest and fun, if you know what I mean…"


	13. Chapter 13

Ok, I didn't realize just how short this one was until just now. But a lot happens, so I hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to make the authoress's day (or afternoon, or night, depending on your time zone) by leaving a review!

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**Chapter 12**

Over the next few days, several interesting things happened in the office. The first was that Roy and Riza (who never went anywhere without each other anymore) announced their engagement, followed immediately by the announcement of the official wedding date -- mid April the following year, just under a solid twelve months away. Isabelle and Sheska quickly started plotting a shower for Riza, while Ed and Envy took over the planning for the world's tamest bachelor party for Roy.

The second major piece of news was hand-delivered by General Hakuro and the members of his staff the following day. The General arrived bearing a large sealed envelope, which he handed over to Roy with a smile and a hearty congratulatory pat on the back. Then he and his companions stood aside while Roy opened the envelope, read the letter inside, and looked up at the others in a daze.

"What is it?" Riza asked.

"I've been made Fuhrer," Roy replied. As his friends cheered and celebrated around him, Hakuro and company saluted their new leader. Then Hakuro took Roy aside to discuss plans for the official celebration of his promotion.

The third piece of news took a little longer than the others to reach the office, because Isabelle had to share it with Envy in private first. After her trip to the doctor, she continued on with life as usual while waiting for the results of the various tests. Finally, a few days after her visit and the day after Roy was declared Fuhrer, an large brown envelope containing the test results arrived at the house. Isabelle made it home before Envy that day (Envy had stayed behind to chat with Ed about Roy's bachelor party), and was therefore able to learn the results of her tests well before her husband got home.

It was therefore something of a surprise for Envy when he arrived at the house, walked in the front door, and was greeted by a beaming Isabelle declaring, "Guess what? I'm pregnant!"

The following day, they called Ed and Al and invited them over for dinner, figuring that their relatives had a right to know before anyone else. The next day at the office proved to be one of the loudest yet, as the others hadn't yet gotten over their excitement over the impending wedding or Roy's sudden rise in power, and were very much in the mood for a party. Roy spent exactly five minutes and forty-seven seconds trying to get people to actually work, but he finally gave up, declared the office officially closed for the day, and let his subordinates celebrate. It was a very good day.

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"So, when is the official party for Roy becoming Fuhrer?" Isabelle asked over lunch the following week.

"Not until November," Riza replied. "Apparently there's a lot of work to do in the government before they can let Roy take over, and they're not even going to make the official announcement about his new position until the end of April anyway."

"So that's when he's taking over, then?" Al asked.

"Yes," Fuery said. "And we're all getting promoted with him, even Hughes."

"Ah, it'll be nice if our rise in position comes with a rise in pay, too," Envy said.

The others nodded in agreement. "Especially for you two, huh?" Havoc said. "I mean, you're going to have to support three people on your own paycheck now, Envy."

"Excuse me?" Isabelle said indignantly. "Just who do you think I am, Havoc? I'm taking a little bit of time off, but then I'm coming back to work. I happen to like my job, thank you very much."

"Sorry, sorry!" Havoc exclaimed, holding up his hands in a defensive gesture.

Isabelle waved her own hand at him. "Ah, it's okay. No big deal."

"Hey, does anyone know what's going on with the Homunculi lately?" Al asked.

"Well, let's see…" Fuery said. "Pride, Sloth, and Lust are all still in custody awaiting trial. The dates have been set for Sloth and Lust, but they're going to be setting up a special government tribunal to look into Pride's activities because he spent so much time as Fuhrer, so that's taking longer. Wrath has been doing a lot of traveling lately. He's made it all the way to Dublith, but we don't really know what he's looking for down there."

"What about the Ishbalans? Leo and Rick and The Exile?" Isabelle asked.

"They're going back to their camp," Fuery said. "And I've been hearing rumors that all of the Ishbalans currently living within the boarders of Amestris are going to move out and build settlements elsewhere. There's just been too much bad blood between them and the Amestris government for them to feel comfortable here anymore."

"They'll always be welcome back, though," Hughes said as he joined their table. "Roy's going to make absolutely sure they know that."

"Good," Ed replied. "I hope things can be nice and peaceful, now. It would make a good change."


	14. Chapter 14

Hehe, I like this chapter. It's rather fluffy. Action is fun and all, but I really adore fluff. I hope you all like it too. Don't forget to review!

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**Chapter 13 -- November of the same year**

When it came to pomp, and circumstance, there was nothing quite like the installment of the new Fuhrer of Amestris. Too bad it required Isabelle to wear a dress uniform -- the damn thing was uncomfortable, and it just made her feel even fatter (she was very happy to be standing in the second row of people behind the podium because of that). And the heels she had to wear with said uniform were starting to kill her feet and back. And she felt hot, very hot, even though it was a cool early November day in Central City. Ah well. This was Roy's special day, and there was no way in hell she was going to spoil it for him.

Now if only these weird stomach pains would just quit it already…

Isabelle grinned and applauded along with everyone else as General Hakuro finished his speech, then motioned for Hughes to approach the podium. It had been decided long ago that Hughes was going to be the one to officially introduce Roy, which involved reading off the long list of his achievements before formally presenting him to the public. Fortunately Hughes had spent a long while writing and rehearsing his speech, so it didn't take too long.

As Hughes finished and Roy stood to make his official acceptance speech, Isabelle winced and shifted a little where she stood. Envy, standing to her left, glanced at her, then whispered, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I think so. I just wish this wasn't so long…and that I could figure out what's causing these cramps."

"Cramps? What cramps?" Envy hissed.

"The cramps I've been having ever since this thing started an hour ago," Isabelle mumbled. "Actually, not an hour, they've been on and off for a bit before that…"

"I think we need to get you out of here," Envy replied.

"No, it's fine, it's…" Isabelle trailed off as a sudden realization hit her. "You know what? I think getting me out of here wouldn't be such a bad idea." Her eyes darted around, taking in where she and Envy stood in relation to everyone and everything else, while she listened to Roy's speech. At the end, Ed and Al were supposed to break ranks with the others and go to either side of the stage, where the flags of Amestris and Central City had been placed, and bring the flags closer to Roy so they would be right beside him when he was officially sworn in. "Okay, I've got it. When Roy's speech finishes, you follow Ed and I'll follow Al and we'll leave. Make sure you let someone know what's going on, though, got it?"

Envy just nodded, and moments later Roy's speech came to an end. The two executed their plan perfectly, and to anyone watching, it looked like they were supposed to be doing what they did.

Ed had just reached his flag when he noticed Envy following him. "Envy, what are you doing?" he hissed.

"We think Isabelle's in labor. We're going to the hospital, tell the others when this is done," Envy hissed back. And with that, he was gone, leaving behind an Ed who was so startled that he almost missed his cues.

Roy, Ed, Al, and the others did a marvelous job of acting as though nothing strange had happened. Roy was sworn in and declared Fuhrer Mustang without a hitch, much to the pleasure of the cheering crowd below. He was then escorted from the stage by his two flag bearers, smiling and waving cheerfully at the people until he was out of their sight.

Finally, back inside Headquarters (the ceremony had taken place on the building's front steps), Roy turned to the others and said, "Where the hell did Envy and Isabelle go? They weren't supposed to leave their spots!"

"Envy said they thought Isabelle was in labor, so they left to go to the hospital," Ed explained.

"Oh," Roy replied, blinking in surprise at the news. "Well, then, guess where we're off to? Fuery! Havoc! Bring a couple of cars around, we're going to see Isabelle in the hospital!"

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The group of friends and co-workers had been in the hospital for almost twenty-four solid hours, awaiting the birth of Envy and Isabelle's baby. On their way to the hospital, Hughes had called Gracia, who had arrived minutes after her husband. Ed had had to wait until arriving at the hospital to call Winry, who had caught the next train up from Risembool and had arrived at the hospital just a few hours later. She had then disappeared into Isabelle's room with Gracia and Riza. Gracia had emerged at one point to report that Isabelle was tired but fine and that Envy was actually taking everything quite well. Riza had come out a couple of hours later to give everyone an update and to tell her beloved Roy that, if he ever wanted to hear the pitter-patter of little feet that did not belong to Black Hayate, they would be adopting.

And then, just as Ed and Al were starting to doze off and long after Fuery had already curled up on a bench to sleep, Winry came bursting out of the room. "They're taking her down! They're taking her to the delivery room right now!" she exclaimed.

Ed and Al jerked back upright, while Havoc turned his attention to waking Fuery. Once he had been woken up, they all turned to follow Winry down the maze-like hallways of the hospital (they had to take a more round-about route than Isabelle and her nurses, who had left through the labor room's other door) to the outside of the delivery room, where Riza and Gracia had been left outside, staring at the door and gripping each other's hands tightly. They turned as the others approached, and Riza ran over to Roy to give him a hug. They group huddled together, eyes fixed on the doors, waiting for any bit of news.

They weren't really sure how long they had been waiting -- in some ways it felt like forever, and in some ways it felt like nothing. Finally, a nurse appeared, holding the door open for Envy, who emerged looking hot and exhausted and slightly sheepish, but somehow incredibly proud at the same time. Tucked in each arm was a tiny, blanket-covered bundle.

"Oh my god, it's twins," Roy muttered.

"Two boys? Two girls?" Hughes asked.

"One of each," Envy replied softly. "Elizabeth and Ronan."

"Did you know there were going to be two?" Havoc asked as they crowded around Envy and stared down at the two sleepy babies.

"Er…no. We wanted to be surprised…and got even more surprised than we expected." He grinned up at them. "But it's the good kind of surprise."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 14**

It was a beautiful, sunny day in mid-April, with most of the winter's snow melted and the very earliest of the spring flowers appearing, when Roy and Riza got married the first time. This suited them just fine. The wedding was small -- just the bride and groom and their best friends in the formal sitting room of the Fuhrer's mansion, where Roy had been living since November. The second wedding was the large one that happened a couple of days later for the benefit of the public. The weather wasn't as nice on that day, but the couple didn't really care, since the whole thing was just for show anyway.

Following the wedding and honeymoon, Roy set about implementing the changes in the military he had always dreamt of. The only one he never got to put in place was his order that all women in the military had to wear miniskirts. Isabelle threatened to resign in protest if he did, Envy threatened to actually wear a miniskirt (and nothing else), and Riza threatened to tie Roy down and make _him_ wear a miniskirt as well if he made such a uniform change mandatory.

Isabelle did take a little time off work to take care of the twins, but in the end she went back to work in Roy's office. Roy gave her the more childcare-friendly assignment of overseeing the day-to-day affairs of the office. Envy became Roy's official ambassador to the military bases around Amestris, though Roy did his best to keep Envy's assignments short and widely spaced so that he wasn't away from home for too long.

Winry's November trip down to witness the birth of the twins had gotten her thinking about how useful it would be to have an automail shop right in Central City, and the subsequent trip for the Hawkeye-Mustang wedding gave her a chance to scout around and see if there would be a market for such a thing. She discovered a surprisingly wide demand for a good automail shop in Central and (though she wondered why nobody else had ever opened one before) started the process of opening her own business there. During the early phases of this project, while she scouted locations for a joint business and home for herself, she stayed with the Elric brothers.

"This is going to be interesting," Envy mused the day his half-brothers and their friend left after coming to have dinner with Envy, Isabelle, and the twins.

"Why do you say that?" Isabelle asked.

"Well," the green-haired man replied as he cleared the table, "I think Ed and Al both like Winry, but I can't tell if she likes either of them. It's going to get messy with all three of them living under the same roof."

Isabelle snorted as she lifted Ronan out of his high chair. "I'm pretty sure she prefers Ed. But if you're right about Al then yeah, I can see some messiness happening. Nothing like a little drama to add excitement around here, after all."

It wasn't too long after that when Wrath returned to Central, appearing to have made some sort of peace with himself and (much to Envy's surprise) having grown at least a good four inches, if not more. Though no one was willing to trust him right off, they weren't willing to imprison him with the others, either. It was in fact Hughes who finally made the suggestion of putting Wrath into some sort of rehabilitation program for juvenile criminals, and, though Roy argued that Wrath had long passed the stage of mere juvenile criminal and had lodged himself firmly in the ranks of psychopaths everywhere, Hughes's suggestion won everyone else over. Wrath wound up living in his own small room in at the local juvenile detention center, where Envy, Isabelle, the Elric brothers, Hughes, Gracia, Roy, and Riza went to visit him regularly. Wrath's progress was slow, but Hughes and Isabelle soon concluded that he actually felt some remorse over what he had done. Envy tried to argue that the idea of Wrath feeling remorse was crazy, but Isabelle silenced his protests by pointing out that it was no crazier than him falling in love with a human. Envy had gotten the chance to redeem himself, and it was only fair that Wrath have that same chance.

Leo, Rick, and The Exile had long since moved with their comrades to another settlement far from Amestris' boarders. But that didn't mean they were completely cut off from that country's news sources. They eventually learned of Roy's promotion, Roy and Riza's wedding, and the birth of the twins, and though it was a bit late, they made a special trip back to Central to convey their congratulations in person and meet the twins. While they were there, Roy made a public announcement of support for and friendship with the Ishbalans, officially apologized for the state's past actions against them, and declared that Amestris would always come to the aid of the Ishbalans whenever asked. The Exile promised to pass the message on to his people, and solemnly took an official document containing Roy's words, signature, and official seal back to the new settlement.

And so, with the Homunculi either completely gone or imprisoned and the Ishbalans moved safely away from potential conflict, it seemed that Amestris was finally ready for a period of hard-earned and well-deserved peace and prosperity. The past had been dark and scary, and though everyone knew that dark and scary moments were likely in the future as well, they were also sure that the future would be far brighter than they could possibly imagine.

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The end! Or is it? Only reviews will tell...there is actually a sequel to this that I wrote to appease the plot bunnies, but it will only be posted if my readers want it. So don't forget to review this story, and remember to mention if you want to read the last installment of Envy and Isabelle's adventures. Hugs and cookies to all my readers! 


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